00:00 A raging sea off the North Queensland coast.
00:05 It's a treacherous playground for adventure seekers, the early symptoms of a looming cyclone.
00:12 "I'm going to come out about 7.30 this morning for a quick kite, get in well before it gets too windy."
00:18 Kira Lee is on a rampage at her core 165km/h gusts.
00:26 Hamilton Islands copped 115 an hour winds and heavy rain brought early flooding in downtown Bowen.
00:34 "We could see isolated totals of up to 300mm in a 24 hour period as this system crosses the coast."
00:41 Elders have been flown off Palm Island which doesn't have an evacuation centre.
00:47 "We're the largest discreet indigenous community with a large population and we do need one."
00:52 The system is due to hit Townsville and surrounds late tonight.
00:56 "We've distributed more than 20,000 sandbags at the moment."
01:00 This afternoon residents were ordered to seek shelter and lockdown.
01:04 "We're prepared and ready for the worst, now we wait and hope for the best."
01:09 Along the coast, communities spent the day counting down and getting ready.
01:16 "Got the bobcat there in case we've got to clear a way out later."
01:19 "Got plenty of beer in to have the cyclone party."
01:23 Townsville's most vulnerable have also taken shelter in evacuation centres.
01:28 It's the barest of basics.
01:30 Residents and visitors on Magnetic Island, just off the coast of Townsville, have been cut off from the mainland.
01:37 They've been urged to have enough boiled drinking water to last them three days in case of power failures.
01:44 Residents of a Townsville hotel were ordered to lower levels. Some plan to sleep in its restaurant.
01:51 Across the region more than 100 schools are closed. In air, locals spent the day preparing.
01:57 "Getting rid of all the rubbish out of the yard and patting things down, boarding up the windows."
02:02 "I look after my mum and we're a bit frightened but we've got good neighbours."
02:08 And teams of volunteers have been busy filling sandbags.
02:12 "It's been outstanding actually for the last four or five days. You can see by the people here this has just been non-stop for that whole time."
02:20 Some residents have boarded up their homes, just like they've done in previous cyclones.
02:26 "I've been set up from the last few and all we do is put the timber back over the windows so we don't break the windows."
02:33 Extra police and emergency crews have been deployed. Interstate help is also on its way.
02:39 "We have pre-emptively declared this a disaster. We have pre-emptively requested assistance from the Australian Government and other states."
02:48 Local GPs are on standby to set up a makeshift emergency department.
02:53 "We need to be ready for all of those things, broken bones, lacerations, trauma, heart attacks, all sorts of things."
03:01 A sleepless night ahead.
03:03 [BLANK_AUDIO]
