Cyclone Debbie Is Bringing Out The Best In QLDers’ Piss-Taking Abilities

Tropical Cyclone Debbie is a very serious situation indeed. The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting that by the time the cyclone makes landfall tomorrow morning it’ll be carrying the strength of a Category 4 storm, with the potential to strengthen into a Category 5. This puts TC Debbie as potentially the most damaging storm to impact the state of Queensland since 2011’s devastating Tropical Cyclone Yasi.

Authorities have warned residents to pack up and leave this morning as the storm front approaches the area around Ayr, Bowen, and Hamilton Island to the north of Mackay.
But none of this has managed to bend the larrikin spirt of North Queenslanders, who in the face of the storm have still been finding ways to take the piss out of it.
Take, for example, the Burdekin Hotel in Ayr, who last night chucked themselves a cyclone party before boarding up the joint this morning. Not only were the froths flowing freer than sea foam, but they were offering the very tongue-in-cheek “category 5 counter meals” that apparently would “blow you away.”

Residents who have chosen to stay also seem to be making the best of the situation, if posts to social media are anything to go by.

Debbie Does Townsville. #cyclonedebbie #blewthem #forgottosayaway

A post shared by Matt Cooke (@pluginmatty) on

Local media has been hard at work chasing down reactions from some of the regions most at-risk residents.

And residents have been prepping by stripping stores bare of vital supplies like water, bread, and… uh… Doritos.

Though apparently even the threat of a category five storm isn’t enough for residents to roll the dice on that fancy spenno gluten-free bread that never gets bought.

Cyclone still isn’t bad enough to risk gluten free bread ?? #cyclonedebbie

A post shared by ?? j u a n i t a ?? (@juanitajade) on

But it’s in times of great hardship that the true heart of a community is exposed; the immense strength to overcome adversity, the steely sense of resiliency. A region who all stands together to rage at the coming storm in a show of pure defiance.

Bloody Debbie. ?? @bondstreetblue_ #cyclonedebbie

A post shared by Bogan Plates (@boganplates) on

#cyclonedebbie #bringiton #bowen #2017 ????

A post shared by Mel McGregor (@mrsmcgregor23) on

#notapussytown #doyourbest #cyclonedebbie #bowen #2017 ??

A post shared by Mel McGregor (@mrsmcgregor23) on

“Cyclone Debbie Bowen is not a pussy town. Do your best you got.

Hell yeah.

Good luck, pals. Look after yourselves and each other. You all got this. x

Photo: Andrew Lofthouse/Twitter.

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