My parents, brother and his family all live in Townsville, so I'm up there at least once a year myself.

The locals are actually thinking this will be a fairly 'baby' cyclone that they should ride out fairly easily (fingers crossed). That said, the panic buying has still been nuts. First-timers expecting they'll need a year's supply of bottled water, when you can just fill buckets and the bathtub ahead of time and have all you need for most purposes.

Most people are fairly prepared. My dad is in full-time care due to advanced dementia, and a lot of the staff there have actually moved in with the residents to ensure they've got proper care should everything go south.