JULIE and Stephen Seidel thought they had escaped Cyclone Debbie with a couple of leaks and some fallen trees.

Little did they know the following night would be much worse.

On Wednesday night, the couple were lying in bed when they woke to their room filling with water.

"I just woke up and started screaming at the two boys," Julie said.

The couple, their son Glen, and their Cannonvale home had fallen victim to the severe flash flooding which hit the region the night after Cyclone Debbie.

Stephen said he originally thought it was the roof causing the flooding and that the roof had gone.

"It wasn't until I looked towards the generator at the front step that I realised the water wasn't coming from the roof, it was coming from outside the house," he said.

"We opened up the garage door and it just poured in."

Julie and Stephen said they were forced to open the doors of their house to let the water escape or else run the risk of their home being submerged.

About 300mm of water filled the main living area while the back rooms in the house were filled with half a metre of water.

"I tried to pick things up on the floor but it wasn't doing any good so I just have up and I had to hold onto the door frame because if I didn't, I would have gone out as well."

The couple, who moved to the Whitsundays in 2011 and never experienced a cyclone before, lost everything.

They quickly made contact with their insurers, Suncorp who they said did an "incredible job".

The couple said it was a very fast moving process and had been easy from the get go.

"Suncorp have been really good and so have the builders," Julie said.

"We will move back in eventually but we're not sure how long that will be."

Suncorp spokesperson, Joshua Cooney said since Cyclone Debbie hit last Tuesday, 1700 jobs had been allocated and about half had already been assessed with repairs underway.

He said Suncorp had already deployed its panel of builders to Proserpine, Bowen, Collinsville and Airlie Beach.

"We've got builders on site, and men of all trades doing what they need to do to get peoples lives back on track because what's happened is a catastrophe," he said.

Of the 1700 jobs allocated, 777 jobs were underway including make-safe work.

Since Cyclone Debbie hit, Suncorp has received more than 8000 claims from residents in north and south east Queensland and northern NSW.

Mr Cooney said the insurance recovery effort was not slowing down and would continue to increase as more claims were lodged and more builders receive approval to commence work.

"Suncorp has a large contingent of tradespeople on the ground and this will continue to climb," Mr Cooney said.

"While the full extent of Cyclone Debbie's impact in the north remains unclear, the boost to local economies will be significant as work is allocated to local trades, and claims teams stay and spend money in the region."

Mr Cooney said the sooner customers could contact Suncorp, the sooner they get in contact, the sooner they can be attended to.

A Suncorp team will be at the Cannonvale Centre, Airlie Beach from noon tomorrow.