The prime minister's tour of cyclone-ravaged north Queensland will show him just how much help the region needs to get back on its feet, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.
Heavy rain from ex-tropical cyclone Debbie is still falling over battered communities in the Whitsunday region, and the state's southeast corner is braced for torrential rain and damaging winds as the system moves down the coast today.
Some towns in the cyclone's strike zone remain cut off, tourists are stranded on resort islands, and 63,000 households still don't have power days after Debbie began lashing the north on Monday, before crossing the coast as a powerful category four storm on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten will both tour the worst-hit communities today, where 1200 Australian Defence Force personnel have joined the recovery operation.
Disaster assistance including concessional loans is starting to flow to primary producers, after the cyclone tore up sugar cane and vegetable crops and hit the beef cattle industry.
Ms Palaszczuk, who is in the north, says the tour by the prime minister will give him a sobering perspective on the recovery task ahead.
"I think when he sees it first hand, he'll understand the extent of the damage," she's told reporters.
The premier has described farming losses as huge, and has also warned of major economic losses in the tourism sector, given the beating island resorts took.
The federal MP for the Mackay region, George Christensen, has called for defence to prioritise cleaning up tourist areas.
"Getting that tourism hub back to a pristine condition probably is the best thing we can do for the local economy."
Hundreds of tourists and residents stranded for days on Hamilton and Daydream islands will be flown to safety today. Winds on the islands reached terrifying speeds of more than 260km/h at the height of the cyclone.
"They've been through a significant experience, but they are safe. That's the main thing," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Deputy Commissioner Mark Roche has told the Nine network.
With island airports now open, the mission to get them back to the mainland should be over quickly.
Recovery work in the north is being hampered by flooded roads, with routes connecting Airlie Beach, Bowen and Proserpine cut, and the Bruce Highway out north and south of Mackay.
In Mackay, which has had 400-800mm of rain in the past three days, flooding fears are easing as levels in the Pioneer River slowly fall.
But residents downstream of the Kinchant dam have been urged to move to higher ground with the water store beyond capacity. People downstream from Middle Creek Dam have also been advised to self-evacuate.
Mayor Greg Williamson says the city is also running out of safe drinking water with just 24 hours of supply left, and authorities urging people to use it for essential purposes only.
