Update | Thousands flee as super cyclone Debbie crosses Australian coast, with winds topping 260km/h

The worst cyclone in six years was smashing into the coast of Queensland on Tuesday, forcing thousands of Australians to evacuate or seek emergency shelter and prompting some of the world’s biggest miners to halt coal operations.

Wind gusts had reached a staggering 263km/h at Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, as the eye of Cyclone Debbie passed through the Whitsunday Islands group.

Debbie was pummelling popular tourist destinations and made landfall on the mainland nearly the resort town of Airlie Beach around 1pm. As many as 25,000 residents evacuated low-lying areas due to an expected storm surge.

One man was injured after a wall collapsed in Proserpine, a town south of Airlie Beach, Queensland Police Commissioner Ian Stewart said. The man was taken to a hospital, and his condition was not immediately known.

Officials warned that the slow-moving storm was likely to hover over the region for several hours before weakening as it moved inland. Stewart said the cyclone’s glacial pace had created a “battering ram effect,” with some areas enduring the howling winds and drenching rains for a punishingly long time.

“I suspect before the day is out, we will see a lot of structural damage in the cyclone’s path,” Stewart said.

Communities along more than 300km of coastline were expected to be affected, he said.