One mum describes being caught in the middle of Cyclone Marcia.

As I sit here writing, the wind is intensifying outside, its boom echoing through our home, and rain is slamming against our windows.

I am in Rockhampton, waiting for the full brunt of Cyclone Marcia, which is currently bearing coastal town of Yeppoon and thankfully downgraded from category five to four.

This is not a pleasant situation. I feel nauseated and I am constantly peering through my louvers to see what the Norfolk pines across the road from me are doing. If they fall, they will hit our house.

The power has just gone off. So now I don’t have the radio in the background to focus on and I can’t ignore the sound of rain striking – or the roar as trees are buffeted outside.

The weather comes in waves – there will be a small moment of calm, and then — boom! It’s howling.

What I can hear… are my children fighting. We’re in the middle of a cyclone, would you believe, but the 13-year-old and 10-year-old can still stay true to form!

Although we sit on the Tropic of Capricorn, Rockhampton has rarely been in the line of fire, unlike our cousins in North Queensland.

The drama began yesterday, when the front page of the Courier Mail screamed about the impending catastrophe.

This must have triggered the panic-buying at my local supermarket, where I popped in to do a normal grocery shop as well as get a couple of emergency extras.

The aisles were packed and people kept flooding in.

According to the lad at the checkout, there had already been a fight over the milk at 8am.

More information: What you need to know about the cyclones battering Australia today.

We had been watching the slow movement of Marcia, confident she would not progress more than a Category 2 and one that would just give the region a bit of a breeze.

But towards mid-afternoon we realised it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. Marcia was picking up intensity. Schools, we were told, would be closed and those at boarding school were being shipped out.

I was still feeling calm. My husband had come home from work early and cyclone-proofed the house, we had food and water and the essentials.

But by early evening, I wasn’t feeling so calm when we heard towns an hour north of us were being evacuated and Marcia was intensifying to a category four.

I tried to be not to panic too much and keep everything as normal for our kids. They were excited but I managed to get them to bed, but I was so keyed up I couldn’t sleep.

Finally at 1.30 this morning – after hearing we wouldn’t be hit until mid morning – I fell asleep, only to be woken at 6am by a big bang.

Just a picture falling off our wall.

But that is when it all changed. Cyclone Marcia was now a category five – this was Cyclone Yasi stuff. ABC local radio has been our best friend.

Related: Friday’s news in under 5 minutes

I can’t describe how it feels to hear the cyclone warning – a wailing siren that brings on a sense of doom. Each message leaving me feel a little more sick.

Message to the media: please, rather than describing how we are going to be hit by a catastrophic event, could you please just reassure us instead? I like practical tips, things that make me feel a little in control.

The morning was spent calling family – my sister lives just around the corner from me and my brother, sister-in-law and parents live an hour away on rural properties – and in open Queenslander homes.

It has been reassuring to have messages from friends – lots of texts.

I started writing this just before the cyclone hit. She is well and truly here and my fingers are trembling as I type. I think we were all feeling calm but now we are all scared (except for the kids).

My husband seems calm – he has been through two devastating cyclones in Samoa and says he is well used to this. When I was running around this morning in a mild panic, he was annoyed because he couldn’t find any coconut cream to make cocoa rice! I won’t tell you what I said! But even he has been walking to the windows and looking out.

There are branches all over the road. The wind is roaring outside. It sounds as though someone has taken a hammer to our windows. We have towels strewn around the house.

The rain is horizontal and our house shakes every now and then. We are all hoping this will be over in an hour (preferably less) as it is downright scary.

The Norfolk pines across the road have lost most of their branches – and we have birds taking refuge in our carport and shed. Our dogs and cats are safely secured.

If this is a category three – I never, ever, want to experience a category five.

The author of this post is known to Mamamia but has chosen to remain anonymous.