The storm, now a tropical low, crossed the coast last night as a category 2 system near Wujal Wujal, about 115 kilometres north of Cairns, and knocked out power to more than 35,000 homes and businesses across the region.
Port Douglas had already copped 150 millimetres of rain by midnight, with more than 250 millimetres at Daintree Village, after forecasters warned some areas could be drenched in twice that much water.
The storm was sporting sustained winds of 95km/h with gusts of up to 130km/h but quickly weakened as it crossed land, downgrading to a category 1 storm by 10pm (11pm AEDT) and becoming a tropical low by midnight (1am AEDT).
It had been expected to make landfall yesterday afternoon but it wasn't until after 6pm that it started the hours-long process of crossing the coast.
Residents and emergency services in the cyclone-prone region had been preparing for days amid warnings of destructive winds and "dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding".
The Bureau of Meteorology predicted isolated falls up to 300 millimetres in just six hours in some areas from Cape Tribulation to Cairns, more rain than falls across the whole month in an average December. Daily totals of up to half a metre were feared.
A major flood warning was issued for the Daintree River, which runs down to the coast between Port Douglas and Cape Tribulation, after falls of up to 200 millimetres.
About 15,000 people in Cairns had already been warned to evacuate due to flooding concerns ahead of the storm and everyone north to Cooktown was told to take precautions.
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Two travellers from Denmark felt the full force of the rain falling in Cairns yesterday afternoon.
"The rain hurts us when it hits us, it's so strong. We're not used to this," one of them said.
Some damage was already obvious before night fell, with trees down in Port Douglas and Cairns marina's steel fence blown to the ground, but most people wouldn't know what they were in for until morning.
In Bloomfield, close to where the cyclone crossed, Katrina Hewitt, Craig Noble and their dog, Bear, were expecting to wake to a significant clean-up job and a couple of days of isolation.
"If it's not the water that comes down through that it's the trees – they're particularly really fast growing, but that means they're short rooted, so when they get wet feet and a bit of wind, they just sort of topple over on the road willy nilly," Hewitt told 9News last night, admitting the locals would be driving around with chainsaws in the tray for the next few days.
"It can be a little bit hard to get through on the road because of the trees so yeah, we expect to be isolated for a few days after everything passes over."
They stopped taking bookings in the lead-up to the storm and spent about three days packing away the outdoor furniture and safari tents at Bloomfield Cabins and Camping.
"I guess the nervousness and anticipation has been geared up to about lunchtime yesterday when we thought that maybe we would start seeing the edge of the system have some sort of impact on us," Hewitt said.
"And because it's slowed down, that sort of anticipation has been stretched out a little bit. So now we're just waiting to see what it does.
"And in the morning, you know, it will be what it will be, we expect there'll be a fair bit of cleanup, by the sounds of things, and anticipating that the wind systems will increase.
"We'll probably have a lot more tree branches down, we're just hoping that we won't have any damage to buildings, safari tents or camp sites and that any trees that fall will be able to be cleaned up fairly easily."
Residents in the affected areas were urged to avoid fallen power lines and not cross flooded roads.
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2023-12-13 14:24:45Z
CBMirwFodHRwczovL3d3dy45bmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdHJvcGljYWwtY3ljbG9uZS1qYXNwZXItdXBkYXRlcy1mbG9vZGluZy1jb25jZXJucy1hcy1zdG9ybS13ZWFrZW5zLXRvLXRyb3BpY2FsLWxvdy1hZnRlci1tYWtpbmctbGFuZGZhbGwvYjc0YjZhNDgtZjEyMi00NDA4LTg1NjctZGE2OTAxMWIwMTQ40gFFaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuOW5ld3MuY29tLmF1L2FydGljbGUvYjc0YjZhNDgtZjEyMi00NDA4LTg1NjctZGE2OTAxMWIwMTQ4
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