There are two tradgedies in life, the first is not getting what you want and the second is getting it.
Farmers have been praying for rain for the last 6 years, John Howard called for a national day of prayer when prime minister last year.
Major flooding is expected in north Queensland as ex-tropical cyclone Ellie dumps heavy rain across the region.
The category one storm crossed the coast near Mission Beach between Cairns and Townsville at midnight AEST.
The cyclone quickly lost its gale force winds and has been downgraded, with the major threat now flooding.
There is a severe weather warning from Innisfail to Mackay.
Emergency crews are continuing to monitor river levels and are urging people to stay away from floodwaters.
Innisfail has recorded more than 300 millimetres of rain and Ingham is preparing for the possibility of major flooding later today.
Floodwaters have cut the Bruce Highway south of Innisfail and also at Rollingstone, north of Townsville.
At Mission Beach this morning there is little sign that a tropical cyclone crossed has coast.
The rain and wind has eased considerably and people are out walking along the picturesque waterfront.
Ellie only brought down a few trees, with even the fragile banana trees standing up to its winds.
Long-time resident Brian says he was concerned around midnight when the winds started to pick up.
"Water was starting to come into the louvres a wee bit but it seemed to reach a certain peak and just dissipated," he said.
The only thing out of the ordinary is that you could almost surf in the normally placid waters off Mission Beach.
Another resident, Bryce, says the winds did pick up enough to make him bring in the furniture off his verandah but it dissipated soon afterwards.
"We’ve been for a bit of a walk this morning and there’s a few leaves and branches down here and there but nothing major," he said.
Emergency Management Queensland says it received no calls for assistance in the area since Ellie struck the coast.
The weather bureau is warning of flooding in coastal rivers from Townsville to Mackay.
Hinchinbrook Mayor Pino Giandominico is urging residents to consider sand bagging immediately.
"I advise people to start preparing for the worst - I mean it’s better to be prepared," he said.
"If it doesn’t reach the major levels at least you’re prepared."
Weather bureau spokesman Brian Rolstone says Ellie will reform later this week.
"An upper level trough will capture it, bring it out over the ocean and it’ll start to spin up and probably be back into cyclone force by Thursday," he said.
Dick Camilleri from Tully Sugar in the state’s far north says the cyclone caused about $3 million worth of damage to the region’s cane fields.
"In the whole the inundation of some of the lower-lying areas, the amount of rain we had, cloud cover we had, I think it would be fair to say that Tully’s probably lost about 100,000 tonnes growth," he said.