89-year-old local’s badass Cyclone Debbie interview

TV REPORTERS are on the ground in Queensland, looking for tales of Cyclone Debbie’s destruction - but the locals have other ideas.

IT SEEMS like every reporter on Australian television is in Queensland today to cover Cyclone Debbie.

In the quest to bring us the news, they’re battling fierce winds, ever-changing conditions — and sometimes, locals who just won’t play ball.

Emergency services tell residents to take cover as Cyclone Debbie moves in

There was this Seven reporter’s interview with one Bowen local, cut short after just one response - you’ll see why:

One chance on TV... its your moment mate, make your family, friends and town proud... 😞😞😱😱 #CycloneDebbie pic.twitter.com/G9xeooh6nZ

— Chris White (@ytboy7) March 28, 2017

“I’ve finally met Debbie. I’ve heard about Debbie doing other things, but now she’s giving Bowen a blow job,” he said, before the reporter yanked his microphone away from his face and valiantly carried on as normal.

And one Nine reporter got a surprise when he interviewed 89-year-old Ayr resident Ruth Western live on the Today show this morning.

Sat on her balcony some 119km from Bowen, where the cyclone is expected to make landfall, Western said that in her 89 years living in Ayr, she’d seen quite a few cyclones in her time.

Ruth Western ain't got time for Cyclone Debbie.

“In terms of where Cyclone Debbie stacks up for you — the build up and the preparations happening here in Ayr — how serious do you think this cyclone is?” the reporter asked, his tone grave.

“Well I don’t think it’s very serious to us. Down further it would be but ... we’re not worried, are we darl?”

“Nup, not at all,” said the woman standing by Ms Western.

The reporter asked what the day ahead would hold.

“Nothing,” said Ruth, letting out a long laugh. “An easy day!”

There’s a lesson here, folks: Stick a microphone in a Queenslander’s face on live television and you’d better expect a surprise or two.

Ruth Western might be utterly chill, but the reporters on the ground in Queensland aren’t — seemingly locked in a battle to see who can best brave the elements:

Seven.

Nine.

Seven.

Nine.

Reporters’ drive to brave the elements in search of dramatic footage doesn’t always go down well with authorities and weather experts, who spend their time pleading with locals to stay indoors as the conditions worsen.

Bowen resident and former mayor of the region Mike Brunker said the message was for people to stay inside — but all morning he’d been watching TV reporters standing out in the wind and rain.

“It’s madness,” he said.

Speaking to the Brisbane Times, David King, head of the Centre for Disaster Studies at James Cook University, criticised media crews for venturing out in the extreme weather.

“The media is setting a very bad example, standing out there in the open,” he said. “That’s when injuries and death occur.”