Only five previous recorded category five storms have ever hit the Australian coastline, including Cyclone Yasi in Queensland in 2011.

The towns of Rockhampton and Yeppoon had copped the worst of the cell's destructive winds by Friday afternoon, with massive trees crashing on to roads, roofs ripped from houses and power lines sent flying.

After lurking in the Coral Sea for most of Thursday the cyclone intensified rapidly by 8am Friday (QLD time) when it slammed into the coastline at Shoalwater Bay, about 600 kilometres north of Brisbane.

It quickly tracked south towards the small coastal town of Yeppoon, where hundreds of evacuees including Shayne Harris and her two children were hunkered down in shelters.

Ms Harris left her home in Byfield, closer to where Tropical Cyclone Marcia made landfall, worried about dangers from the destructive winds reaching 285km/h.

She was hoping for the best when she returns but was worried there will be nothing left.

"From a neighbour there they said there's no leaves on the trees and trees are falling over," she said.

"We're just hoping that things aren't too bad.

"The problem is that even when this is all over we won't be able to get home until all the creeks go down because it floods out there."

Former Rockhampton resident Carmel Barnfield said her sister Anne Maree's family was huddled together inside the bathroom of their Yeppoon home.

"They think they are losing their roof and they are not moving," Carmel said Friday afternoon.

"She is in Yeppoon, about 10 kilometres west of the main part of town, in Barmaryee."

"It's a big home, it's a farm.

"There has been roof damage already and they have lost everything, all their sheds; their boat shed, their granny flat."

The very worst of the cyclone missed Yeppoon but it still suffered destructive winds of up to 141km/h.

Tropical Cyclone Marcia weakened to a still dangerous category three storm by 2pm as it made a beeline for Rockhampton and its 80,000 residents.

Massive gum trees have knocked down power lines and street lights throughout Rockhampton and much of the city was now without power, Rockhampton's deputy mayor Tony Williams said late Friday.

"It was certainly the biggest event that I have ever been through," the 50-year veteran of the city said.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said both Rockhampton and Yeppoon had suffered serious damage.

"We have reports of significant structural damage in Yeppoon," she said.

"We understand that the surf club may have lost its roof but we do know that homes have had structural damage and we need to assess this structural damage."

On Friday afternoon, the Bureau of Meteorology expected the cell to weaken to a severe low pressure system before reaching the state's more populated south-east corner.

But it warned rain falling throughout Friday in south-east Queensland from a separate weather system was likely to intensify as the cyclone tracked further south.

The State Emergency Service had received more than 2000 calls for assistance by Friday afternoon, mostly in the south-east corner.

More than 100mm of rain had already fallen with as much as 500mm predicted in some areas.

Dozens of roads on the Sunshine Coast, Brisbane and the Gold Coast flooded and the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland fielded more than 870 calls for emergency towing.

With Tony Moore