Dylan made landfall near Hideaway Bay, between Bowen and Airline Beach, as a category two cyclone about 3.30am (AEST).

It packed wind gusts of up to 140km/h, and communities remain on alert for damaging winds and very heavy rain.

At Proserpine, just to the south of where Dylan crossed the coast, there were no obvious early signs of wind damage as dawn broke.

Evacuation centres have been opened at Bowen and Airlie Beach, with residents in low-lying areas warned the rain could combine with a king tide peak to flood some areas.

The tide is expected to peak at about four metres in the Bowen area just after 10am (AEST), and a storm surge on top of that could flood some areas.

The highest rainfall has been recorded away from the centre of the cyclone, in the Clarke Range inland from Mackay.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Brett Harrison has told the ABC 470mm of rain has fallen there since 9am on Thursday.

Destructive winds of up to 140km/h are expected close to the centre cyclone for the next few hours.

Damaging wind gusts of up to 120km/h are occurring in coastal areas between Ayr and Sarina and will extend to inland areas as the morning progresses.

The winds are expected to ease by late morning.

Heavy rain, which may lead to flash flooding, is expected in coastal and adjacent inland areas of the central coast and Whitsundays districts.

“Coastal residents between Ayr and Sarina are specifically warned of the dangerous storm tide on this morning’s high tide. The sea is likely to rise steadily up to a level well above the normal tide, with damaging waves and flooding of some low-lying areas close to the shoreline,” the bureau said in its 5am warning.