A Dapto woman stranded on Hamilton Island has told of the terrifying moment Cyclone Debbie hit on Tuesday, causing the roof of her holiday house to cave in.
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Samantha Burnhams and her family was due to leave the popular holiday island on Sunday but their flight home was cancelled due to the looming cyclone.
Ms Burnhams was holidaying with her fiance Jason Campbell, her mum Tracey, dad John, sister Tabitha and Tabitha’s partner, Jordan Greathead, when they became stranded.
The group had an anxious wait as Debbie – a category 4 severe tropical cyclone packing wind gusts in excess of 260km/h – made its destructive power felt.
“Don’t think I ever want to experience anything like this again,” Ms Burnhams told the Mercury, via Facebook, about 9.50am local time.
At that time, a heavy dining table had been placed against the front door of the family’s holiday house amid fears it was “about to break”.
Wind gusts had hit 223km/h by 10.10am, Ms Burnhams said, but indicated she and her family were safe.
“The houses here are built for this,” she said. “[I’m] pretty scared, [I’ve] never experienced anything like this.
“We're in a holiday house, just watching the trees around us in case they fall on the house. Water’s coming in from two windows but [it’s] not too bad yet.”
At 10.25am, a wind gust of 263km/h ripped through Hamilton Island; a speed “towards the top end of a category four severe tropical cyclone”, Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said.
“If those wind gusts go over 280km/h, this will be classified as a category five severe tropical cyclone,” Mr Domensino said.
“The system is lingering over water just a little longer than expected; that’s allowing it to intensify further.”
As the eye of the cyclone drew closer, Ms Burnhams said the situation became even more terrifying.
“It’s really scary right now,” she said at 11.25am, adding the tin roof on the house next door was being torn off. “Our whole house is shaking and our guttering is coming off.”
Ms Burnhams described the sound of the cyclone as being “really loud”.
“We're all screaming at each other to talk. We have a crack in one window and the whole house is shaking. We've gone to the bottom floor,” she said at 11.38pm.
Less than 20 minutes later, parts of the roof had fallen in.
By 2.30pm, Ms Burnhams said there was “no roof on the top” of the house, parts of it had “caved in” and electrical wiring was exposed.
The family were in a concrete laundry awaiting help from emergency services.
None of them were injured.
*Ms Burnhams contacted the Mercury via Facebook. The family’s safety was paramount during our contact.