The category 4 cyclone roared through Airlie Beach, Proserpine and Hamilton Island, peeling off roofs and leaving 63,000 properties without power, with floodwaters isolating towns.

In Airlie Beach, a shell-shocked Dave McInerney emerged from the rubble of his Shute Harbour Motel at daylight to survey the damage, after spending most of Tuesday sheltering in a toilet.

Mr McInerney's father started the business 50 years ago, but he said the extent of the damage meant he would now likely walk away.

"It depends a lot on the insurance," he said.

"More than likely it'll be demolished and sold as a development site. These days it's really not worth rebuilding a small business like this."

In Bowen, trees were strewn across roads, homes have lost roofs, the Sky View Units has lost a wall and a plane has been flipped at Bowen Airport.

John Anderson's small rented shack was unliveable, drenched, battered and smelling, and the 78-year-old former cane truck driver had nowhere to go.

"Maybe back to Proserpine," he said, hoping the floodwaters cutting the Bruce Highway would subside.

Mr Anderson's front door did not open, falling off its hinges and blocked by sodden carpet in the front room.

About a foot of water surrounded the three-room home, with pieces of fence and broken branches scattered in the yard.

But Mr Anderson said he was happy the cyclone had not brought widespread deaths or injuries.

"You can always build a new home, or car, you can't build a new life," he said.

Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner Paul Taylor said Bowen appeared to have escaped serious damage.

Bowen man Graham Wilson, who made headlines for painting: "Bowen is not a pussy town do your best you got" on Monday, went out on Tuesday to paint a new message: "Cyclone Debbie 0, final score Bowen 1."

Jon Clements was celebrating his mother's 70th birthday at Hamilton Island with family and said about a dozen boats were beached.

"There was pretty extensive damage, we could see boats being torn out of their mooring," he said.

Most buildings on the Hamilton Island copped some damage, from torn roofs to pipes being ripped from buildings.

"It looks like a war-zone, it looks like some sort of bomb has gone off," Mr Clements said.

"You can't hear any birds, which is amazing because the island is usually thriving with birdlife.

"There are huge eucalypts and coconut palms that are broken and torn out of the ground."

Tourists and residents stranded for days on Hamilton and Daydream islands will be flown to safety later on Thursday.

"They've been through a significant experience, but they are safe. That's the main thing," Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Commissioner Mark Roche told Nine.

He said the airports were open and emergency services would work quickly to get them out.

On Daydream Island, water was rationed to one bottle per person at a time, with no running water on the island, and uncertainty about when guests would be moved off. There were about 200 holidaymakers and 50-60 staff on the island.

In the midst of the destruction, there was a ray of good news, with a baby girl named Billianna born at the Whitsunday ambulance station at Airlie Beach at 4.20am on Wednesday after flooded roads prevented her parents from reaching a hospital.

Paramedic Pamela Price said they decided against trying to take the heavily-pregnant mum by boat over to Proserpine in the dark.

"This place is shredded. There is mass destruction everywhere," Ms Price said.

"So to see this beautiful little birth of this beautiful little girl; it just made all the spirits lift."

Two men were rescued from a boat, which ran aground on Whitsunday Island, after family members called police, who launched a search.

On Wednesday afternoon, authorities were still searching for the owners of cars found submerged in floodwaters.

After battering the Whitsundays, Debbie moved south and was downgraded to a tropical low, but still carried strong winds.

Widespread falls of up to 250mm and flash flooding was predicted as the system moved south and heavy rain expected for south-east Queensland on Thursday, and high winds on the coast at the weekend.

The weather bureau issued a flood watch for coastal catchments between Ayr and the NSW border.

Debbie blew away Queensland's previous official record for wind gust speed by more than 50km/h, with 263km/h gusts blasting Hamilton Island.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk flew into Bowen on Wednesday afternoon to inspect the damage.

A bus took her past fallen powerlines, tonnes of toppled trees and several rooftops buildings.

She said fortunately damage was not as widespread as first feared in the town but the real hard work, the clean-up, was still to come.

The Queensland government has donated $1 million, split between the Australian Red Cross, Salvation Army, St Vincent de Paul Society of Queensland and UnitingCare Community, to support communities devastated by the cyclone.

Ms Palaszczuk urged people to get behind the disaster response and support charities.

Canegrowers chief executive officer Dan Galligan said sugarcane was flattened, with the Mackay and Proserpine districts the worst affected.

The region has a $1 billion sugar industry.

Farmers across Queensland's central coast will be visited by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries over the coming days to assess the damage.

Cyclone Debbie's damage bill will take weeks to calculate but the Insurance Council of Australia said 2000 claims had been lodged.

The Army was sending a ship to the Whitsundays on Wednesday night to help cut off residents.

Queensland dams were being monitored closely by SunWater and Seqwater, with operational releases made from Somerset Dam to Wivenhoe Dam would be made on Wednesday to balance supply volumes.

With Felicity Caldwell