Tropical Cyclone Anthony has crossed the north Queensland coast near Bowen, the first of two cyclones to hit the flood-ravaged state.
Category two cyclone Anthony crossed the coast at about 10pm (AEST), the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said.
Areas between Ayr and Mackay experienced wind gusts of up to 155 kilometres an hour.
Coastal and island communities from Lucinda to Sarina had been warned to prepare for destructive wind gusts up to 130km/h and heavy rain, reaching up to 200mm in 24 hours in some areas.
Gales up to 100km/h were already being felt on Hamilton Island at 5pm.
A BoM spokesman said the cyclone has been downgraded to a category one from a category two.
"It's experiencing winds up to 120km/h at the moment," he told AAP.
"It's nothing out of the ordinary at all, we're seeing it weaken as it goes inland.
"We're not expecting any more destructive winds, the damaging winds will still be around for another hour or so then they will start to weak too."
Burdekin Shire Council Mayor Lyn McLaughlin said the community began preparing on Friday and have stocked up on torches, batteries and water.
"The biggest threat are trees coming down on powerlines," she said.
"We'd encourage people to be prepared for that."
The Local Disaster Management Group was activated on Sunday and council would keep its customer service centre open until the last minute.
Infrastructure hit
The Abbot Point and Hay Point coal terminals have been closed.
All Townsville ferries to both Magnetic and Palm Island have ceased operation and the Sunlander train northbound and southbound from Cairns have been cancelled.
The cyclone is being described as "David" - and unfortunately Goliath is on the way.
A tropical low off Vanuatu intensified into category one cyclone Yasi on Sunday afternoon.
It is expected to intensify and hit Queensland's tropical coast by Thursday at the earliest.
"It's very impressive on the satellite and absolutely dwarfs tropical cyclone Anthony," BoM's senior forecaster Gordon Banks said.
"It will be a quiet large and dangerous cyclone ... category three or higher. It will cause some grief."
What will be most frightening, is that the system is expected to survive as a cyclone over the interior of Queensland until the weekend.
"It's pretty rare but with really large and really strong systems it's quiet likely it will run that way," Mr Banks said.
The cyclone is predicted to bring flooding in Emerald and along the central highlands and coalfields district.
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said flood-weary Queensland just can't get a break.
"We are looking not only at potentially damaging cyclone but more very heavy rainfall which could fall into river catchments and cause further flooding beyond the cyclone," Ms Bligh told reporters in Brisbane.
"As we contemplate what might lie ahead I think it would be easy to think that somebody up there has got a grudge against us but frankly this is just what the weather in a tropical state does from time to time and we have to be ready to cope with it."
She said emergency services are up to the task.
"We are not battle weary, we are battle ready and our highly trained people are well rested and they are ready to respond," Ms Bligh said.
Cyclone watches for Yasi are expected to be issued on Monday night.
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