The Easy Part

Tropical Cyclone Ului made a mess:

FRUSTRATED residents of cyclone-ravaged Airlie Beach, on the fringe of the Great Barrier Reef, say surviving the storm may have been the ``easy part''

Tourists have scavenged in bins for food, and communities are at risk of running out of water after 200km/h winds from the category three cyclone, which crossed the north Queensland coast on Sunday morning, cut power to homes, businesses and utilities.

Generators have been deployed to Airlie Beach where water supplies remain critical.

While in Mackay more than 24,000 residents remain without power and have also been told to ration their water usage.

...Ergon Energy is continuing to work around the clock to restore electricity supplies to the Central Queensland region but it could be days before all homes have the power restored.

...Hotels at Airlie Beach are telling visitors to leave or brace for an uncomfortable stay as supplies run low.

``If we don't get the power back soon, we will look back at the cyclone as the easy part,'' Airlie Beach Hotel general manager Mark Bell told AAP.

Guests are being advised that there will be no running water or phone connections in Airlie Beach for some time.

The local Lions club put on a sausage sizzle after hearing of backpackers desperate to find food.

``We've had reports of people sifting through rubbish bins for food, so we've asked the Lions Club to come in and help out,'' Whitsunday mayor Mike Brunker said.

With only one service station in town vehicles were backed up for hundreds of metres waiting for fuel for up to one hour.

...On Monday afternoon ex-tropical cyclone Ului was east of Cloncurry and moving west, bringing localised heavy rain and thunderstorms.