Authorities have begun evacuating parts of the Whitsunday region as Cyclone Debbie continues to bear down on the north Queensland coastline.
The Whitsunday Regional Council listed several low-lying areas for immediate evacuation on Sunday with a "significant" storm tide forecast across the region.
Whitsunday mayor Andrew Willcox is urging residents to seek shelter with family or friends at higher ground.
"If you are unable to evacuate, the Cyclone Shelters in Bowen and Proserpine will be opened on Monday as a last resort," he said today.
"The cyclone shelters have capacity for 800 people each and are only available to those people at highest risk from cyclone effects that have no other option."
A storm tide watch and act alert has been issued for Dingo Beach, Conway Beach, Cape Upstart, Bowen, Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour.
Residents in low-lying areas that are not under the evacuation order are being advised to voluntarily evacuate with Debbie forecast to make landfall early on Tuesday morning.
Residents in low-lying coastal areas have been directed to evacuate until the cyclone passes, while further areas are being advised to voluntarily evacuate.
The Whitsunday Regional Council has reminded residents delaying evacuation until Monday may mean evacuation routes are flooded and residents may not be able to leave the area.
It comes as residents elsewhere in northern Queensland bunker down or evacuate ahead of what's expected to be the most significant tropical cyclone since Yasi six years ago.
The category 2 storm is expected to become a category 3 later on Sunday and authorities expect it to be a category 4 when it makes a forecast landfall some time early on Tuesday.
The system, sitting 500km north east of Townsville in the Coral Sea, is expected to track west-south west and make landfall somewhere between Townsville and Proserpine.
Over 1000 emergency services staff as well as Australian Defence Force personnel are being deployed to the region in anticipation of the storm's arrival.
Bureau of Meteorology deputy regional director Bruce Gunn says the storm is potentially far more dangerous than the last cyclones to reach land in Queensland.
"Queensland hasn't seen a coastal crossing for a couple of years now since Marcia or Nathan in 2015 but I think you could probably say that Debbie's the most significant tropical cyclone since Yasi," Mr Gunn said.
"Not so much because of it's intensity ... mostly because of its size and extent. It's quite a sizable system."
Yasi, a category 5 cyclone, caused $800 million in property damage when it tore across north Queensland in February 2011 with structures in Townsville, Innisfail, Tully, Cardwell and the Dunk Island resort affected.
One man also died after he asphyxiated from carbon monoxide issuing from a faulty generator at a house in Ingham.
Winds of up to 260km/h are expected, along with a potential storm surge which could flood areas across the region.
A local tour operator, who did not wish to be named, said a handful of backpackers were still preparing to head north to Townsville and Cairns and did not appreciate the risk posed by Debbie.
Townsville-based BP petrol station worker Stacey Trainer said people had been "going crazy" filling jerry cans with fuel and memories of the destructive Yasi put people on notice.
"That's why we're watching it quite closely at the moment," Ms Trainer told AAP.
"Yasi was quite scary."
