Tourists admitted entry to The Whitsundays’ Daydream Island just before Cyclone Debbie’s arrival are preparing to file a formal complaint against the resort’s operator, claiming they weren’t warned of the impending category four storm.
Speaking to ABC Radio this morning, visitor Michael Cleland said he and his wife took a ferry to the small island on Saturday afternoon before being checked in “as normal.”
However, he claims a note regarding the cyclone was then slipped under the door of their room, and that the final ferry off the island before Debbie hit was the very same one they had disembarked earlier that afternoon.
Cleland said the resort “didn’t give us any indication we would be trapped on the island itself.” As a result, he and his wife joined many others who had to bunker down on the island during the storm.
Cyclone Debbie inflicted severe damage across The Whitsundays, and thousands of people were stranded for extended periods of time in its aftermath.
Once evacuations to Airlie Beach were put into place after the storm had passed, Cleland says “there were no plans or anything there.” He says he was told “to look up on Google and find accommodation for ourselves.”
The resort’s operator claims guests were informed ahead of time that the port would close at 6pm on the evening of the storm.
Despite the resort suffering significant damage, all guests were safe and accounted for after the storm had passed.
Source: ABC.
Photo: @marckymiles / Instagram.
