Fraser Island evacuation

Cut and paste from the ninemsn news.

Up to 1,000 campers are being evacuated from Fraser Island as category five cyclone Hamish heads south towards the central Queensland coast.

Lady Elliot Island and Heron Island, both west of Gladstone, were also evacuated on Sunday morning as a precaution to the cyclone, which had recorded winds of up to 280km/h on Saturday night.

Forecasters estimate the cyclone, at last report 195km northeast of Mackay, is as destructive as cyclone Larry, packing savage winds that will whip up big waves and raise sea levels.

Residents living between Bowen and Bundaberg are being advised to take all necessary cyclone precautions.

While the category five tropical cyclone continues to run parallel to the coastline, it also has travelled further south than initially anticipated.

Despite this, Premier Anna Bligh on Sunday ruled out suspending her campaign to deal with the cyclone, saying it was not necessary now that Mackay had avoided the brunt of the storm.

"Clearly, people have to come first in this situation ... but (Hamish) is yet to cause any damage," Ms Bligh said.

"If circumstances change, that will be something that we'll be monitoring.

"All of the central Queensland areas now have to take precautions."

Ms Bligh said Fraser Island's residents would also be evacuated off the island.

"At this stage, the evacuation is proceeding smoothly and people are moving off their campsites and taking their vehicles down to get off the southern end of the island."

Ms Bligh also said Hamish may be downgraded to a category four cyclone on Monday.

However, Emergency Services Queensland isn't taking any risks, with executive director Frank Pagano saying the 90-odd SES workers on standby in Mackay would soon be redeployed further south in case the cyclone crosses the coastline.

"If the cyclone heads towards the coast in the wide bay area, that might bring heavy rain in central Queensland and associated flooding," Mr Pagano said.

"That's a very early call though, it's still 48 hours out."

Ms Bligh said she had spoken directly to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who assured her she would have access to defence force personnel for both evacuation and clean-up purposes.

Not even Brisbane may not be immune from the cyclone, with the state's capital possibly feeling the effects of the storm around Tuesday.

What is Australia coming to we have flood up one end and at the other fires. Send the rain to the fires and let it dry up the top part.

I know if I was there and this hapened to me I would wqant to get off the island as quick as I could.
Then I would sit there feeling sorry for myself after spending out all that money for this holiday only to have it taken away from me by a big wind.
I feel for all t the people being affected bt this.

I know I would want to get off too.