As conditions on the island eased somewhat on Wednesday morning, Samantha Burnhams was able to get out of a holiday house and witness some of the damage firsthand.

“Everywhere you go is dangerous. Everything’s ruined, [I’ve] never seen anything like it,” Ms Burnhams told the Mercury. 

“[There are] so many sad and scared faces.” 

Ms Burnhams was holidaying with her fiance Jason Campbell, her mum Tracey, dad John, sister Tabitha and Tabitha’s partner, Jordan Greathead, when Debbie struck.

The group had been due to leave on Sunday, but became stranded when flights in and out of the island were suspended due to the worsening weather conditions. 

On Tuesday afternoon, the family were forced to huddle in a concrete laundry at the holiday house they were staying in as Cyclone Debbie made its destructive presence felt. 

Earlier, at 10.25am local time, wind gusts of up to 263km/h ripped tin from neighbouring roofs and caused parts of the holiday house’s ceiling to cave in.

[Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie heads inland: live updates]

Despite the cyclone passing Hamilton Island during the day on Tuesday, Ms Burnhams said “no one slept” that night because they were “too scared”. 

“It’s absolutely devastating. So many houses [are] missing roofs and walls,” she said, adding felled trees littered the road and metal debris had been strewn everywhere.

“It's absolutely horrible,” she said. 

A trip to an evacuation centre, at the Reef View Hotel, on Wednesday morning gave the family little comfort, with no rooms left and no bottles of water available, Ms Burnhams said.

The family has been told Hamilton island authorities are in talks with the govenemnt to “get everyone out in the next 48 hours”, she said.

[Read more: Cyclone Debbie destroys Towradgi couple’s Daydream Island holiday]