The morning after: Pictures show aftermath of Cyclone Debbie
IT’S the morning after 263km/h winds hit North Queensland — these new pictures show the damage Cyclone Debbie has left in it’s wake.
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IT’S the morning after and only now that the full devastation of Cyclone Debbie is being realised.
New photos show boats once firmly moored at Shute Harbour near Airlie Beach washed ashore and onto wharves. The marina that serves as the gateway to Queensland’s Whitsunday Islands has been devastated by Cyclone Debbie.
Boatmen and women looked on in disbelief on Wednesday morning as they surveyed the damage at Shute Harbour — the country’s second biggest ferry terminal.
Piers have been destroyed and pushed up onto the bank, while sails attached to the main building have been torn to shreds.
Boat owner James Wighton says he’s never seen such “devastation”. “This is millions of dollars worth of infrastructure,” he told AAP. Mr Wighton also woke to the news that his uninsured trimaran was destroyed by the category 4 cyclone as it lashed the north Queensland coast on Tuesday. “Mine is still on its mooring. But it’s upside down,” he said. Mr Wighton flew from the Sunshine Coast to moor his boat, which he has kept at Shute Harbour for the past 11 years.
The former Airlie Beach resident said Cyclone Debbie was far worse than Aivu, which hit between Townsville and Bowen in 1989.
“It wasn’t nearly as severe as this,” he said.
RELATED: Destruction caused by Cyclone Debbie revealed on Wednesday morning
Townsville Bulletin photographer Alix Sweeney took the following photo of a cockatoo that had been battered by the cyclone’s winds. After rescuing her, Sweeney dubbed her ‘Debbie’ and is making a recovery in her motel room as she waits for professional care.
Bradley Mitchell was also out on the road early on Wednesday to check on his family’s three boats.
Two of them were shifted by the high winds, but his uncle’s was slammed up into the mangroves. Mr Mitchell reckons that’s a good result, all things considered. “When it hit we thought we lost all three,” he told AAP.
The Airlie Beach resident said enduring Debbie’s might had been a “hectic” experience.
“It was a very scary one. I don’t want to go through another one like it.” Mr Mitchell believes the clean-up bill from Debbie is likely to top that of Cyclone Yasi in 2011, even though Tuesday’s tempest was a category four, and Yasi was a five.
Click through the gallery below for our full photographic coverage:
RELATED: Hamilton Island a mess after Cyclone Debbie’s 262km/h winds
Originally published as The morning after: Pictures show aftermath of Cyclone Debbie
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