Residents in cyclone-affected areas of Queensland are counting their lucky stars they were spared injury when "freight train" Cyclone Ului hit the coast last night.
As home owners in the Whitsundays region contemplate the clean up, most are thankful the weather system did not take lives, cause serious injury or major destruction to homes.
Cannonvale resident Kym Alexander said Ului hit her about 11.30pm.
"It sounded like a freight train was coming through our house," she said.
"It was blowing a gale, a lot of trees outside have come down. Our outside fan is bent from the wind. We live in a valley and you just hear the wind and rain whipping through."
Mrs Alexander said had never experienced anything like it.
"I'm from Adelaide, we have bushfires, not cyclones," she said.
"Our windows were bowing in, we really thought one of them was going to explode, it was pretty full on."
She said the cyclone's assault on their home peaked about 2am before it became "dead still" for about an hour and a half.
"But then it started again. It changed direction, the back of our house had been getting smashed the first time, but then it came from the front. Our garage door looked like it was going to blow in," she said.
She said the group of seven adults and six children - including two infants - who were sheltering in her home - had been forced to "shuffle from room to room" as the weather intensified.
During the high winds, the roof of their home was "flapping and bashing around" but stayed intact, keeping everyone inside dry and safe.
"It was really scary, we were really lucky," she said.
Still without power and the weather "still a bit rough" outside, the clean up around her property would not begin until later today or tomorrow, she said.
Prosperine Uniting Church minister Wayne McHugh said this morning's church service had been cancelled, but that didn't stop church-goers arriving "give thanks" that Cyclone Ului had not been as bad as predicted.
Mr McHugh said he had been assessing the water-logged carpet at his church, and welcomed the couple in.
"They'd been looking for any church that was open this morning," he said.
"They wanted to give thanks after the cyclone, and pray that everybody was alright. Mr McHugh said that one couple in particular had wanted to pray for their future grandchild, whose mother had been experiencing false labour pains during the storm last night.
He said he toured the area this morning, visiting elderly parishioners to ensure they were holding up after the intense weather.
"Nobody's injured that I've heard of, there are just a great deal of trees and branches down. There's a few fences which have fallen over and a garden shed I saw which has been shaken around a bit in the wind," he said.
He said he had stayed indoors last night and avoiding the southern-side of his home which was whipped by strong winds and heavy rain.
"It was quite a strong enough storm for terrify everybody who was in it, we were very pleased when it passed," he said.
A 6pm service at the church would go ahead, he said.
Robbie Medlin from the Department of Community Safety said throughout Central Queensland the cyclone was "relatively event-free".
"The main damage sustained was tree damage," he said.
"There have been reports of a few homes without their roofs but I would say this was a relatively event-free cyclone."
He said SES crews would be working throughout the day to assess damage and tarp leaking roofs.
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