Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie is finally moving away from Australia today after causing a trail of destruction from central Queensland to northern New South Wales this week. Debbie crossed the coast between Bowen and Airlie Beach on Tuesday afternoon as a category four severe tropical cyclone. Hamilton Island's wind gust of 263km/h just before landfall was Australia's second strongest on record and a new high for Queensland. A storm surge over two metres high and very heavy rain also occurred during the system's coastal crossing. Cyclone Debbie weakened over land during Tuesday night but made it more than 100km inland before being downgraded to a tropical low on Wednesday morning. The ex-cyclone spent the next 24 hours spreading heavy rain, storms and gale force winds across Queensland's central inland, while an unrelenting feed of tropical moisture maintained heavy rain along the central coast. The heaviest rainfall during this event was recorded to the west of Mackay, where Mount William registered 1234mm during the 72 hours to 9am on Thursday. Further inland, more than a month's worth of rain fell on the southern Central Highlands in 24 hours, where Blackdown Tableland picked up 307mm. On Thursday, former Tropical Cyclone Debbie generated exceptionally heavy rain and damaging winds across southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales as it moved back towards the coast. The eye of the low brazenly passed directly over Brisbane at 8pm AEST on Thursday before moving off the coast overnight. Widespread rainfall totals exceeding half a metre in the last 48 hours hours have produced major flooding in both states. In Queensland, Upper Springbrook recorded 603mm during the 24 hours to 9am today and a total of 890mm from this event. Brisbane's Archerfield registered 261mm in the last day and a half, which is more than they received in four days during the 2011 southeast Queensland floods. South of the border, Couchy Creek in the upper Tweed River valley has registered 507mm in 24 hours and 721mm since Wednesday night. Murwillumbah and Lismore received 460mm and 386mm respectively during the last 48 hours. Major flooding was occurring in rivers from St Lawrence to Lismore this morning. The worst affected area was between Lismore to Brisbane, where flood peaks are breaking records in some river systems. Emergency sirens sounded in Lismore early this morning as water topped the levee and inundated the town. The Wilsons River reached 11.56m at Lismore shortly before 10am today but is expected to fall short of the 1974 record peak of 12.15 metres. Flooding in the Murwillumbah area has forced people to seek refuge on roofs as emergency services perform rescues this morning. The Tweed River at Murwillumbah Bridge peaked at an estimated 6.2 metres early this morning (recording instruments failed overnight) and is now falling slowly. Major flooding is now affecting Chinderah, where the river is expected to peak at around 2.5 metres this afternoon, higher than the 1974 flood. Wind gusts reached 124km/h at Double Island point yesterday and 115km/h at Cape Moreton. Cape Byron registered a gust of 104km/h early this morning. Thankfully, Ex-Tropical Cyclone Debbie will not contribute any more heavy rain to the flood situation now that it has moved offshore. The main threat now is existing flood peaks moving downstream, which will be exacerbated by high tide near the coast. While the rain has eased, Ex-Cyclone Debbie may still cause damaging to destructive winds, dangerous surf and abnormally high tides along parts of the the coast in northeast New South Wales and southeast Queensland today. Warnings were in place for both states as of 11am AEDT. The low will move further away from Australia's east coast during the rest of Friday, allowing wind to gradually ease. Large and dangerous surf are likely to linger into the weekend, which should be Debbie's final impact on Australian weather.