NEW VIDEO: Devastation at Midge Point

The scenes at Midge Point following ex-Cyclone Debbie are nothing short of disastrous.

DESTRUCTION: The foreshore at Midge Point following Cyclone Debbie. Picture: Kylie Barry

THE scenes at Midge Point following Cyclone Debbie are nothing short of disastrous.

Families were told to evacuate their homes as a storm surge threatened to push metres of water through the small beachside town north of Mackay.

As they begin to return to their homes, what they're finding looks nothing like the properties and belongings they left behind.

Kylie Barry is one of many Midge Point residents who will have a huge clean-up ahead. She returned to find her house and backyard totally ravaged by the tidal surge.

"We are heading back now to start the clean-up," she said.

"Houses are still there but it looks like everyone has had water through."

Midge Point residences were flooded. Picture: Kylie Barry

Images show pebbles, along with rocks the size of soccer balls, that have inundated Ms Barry's backyard and home.

Parts of roofs were stripped off by the wind or had entirely collapsed and, despite the tide receding, water still sat feet deep in many spots.

"Just the intensity of the surge and the time it took to go through just really made conditions much worse," Mr Barry said.

"Yesterday the heavy rainfall we had probably did as much if not more damage than the cyclone did.

"The flooding was certainly more than what we got in 1990 when we had that heavy rain that filled the Proserpine Dam."

The devastating scene Midge Point residents found when they checked on their homes in the wake of Cyclone Debbie on Wednesday afternoon. Picture: Kylie Barry

Mr Barry said damage was extensive and many homes still would not be able to access their properties for days to come.

"All of them have had water through them, there's just debris everywhere, some of the yards would be three inches thick in pumice stones from the beach," he said.

"Stuff's just washed up in yards, it's heartbreaking and a lot of people still can't get to their houses.

"A lot of them have iron and stuff ripped off, sheds demolished. My mother's house had water damage upstairs and the ceilings had collapsed."

SES teams have managed to enter parts of Midge Point to begin the clean-up but several streets are still inaccessible due to water remaining inches high.

Destruction at Midge Point

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Originally published as NEW VIDEO: Devastation at Midge Point