The greatest impact on Port Douglas from the much-hyped Cyclone Nathan seems to have been annoyance and lost business, according to operators in town.

While early predictions for the cyclone placed it on track with Douglas Shire, soon enough it swung away to the north and hit the largely unpopulated Cape Melville, with Cooktown also ‘dodging a bullet’ and sustaining only minor damage to some structures. 

Some business operators in tourism-dependent Port Douglas saw a quieter than average Thursday evening, with most considering the cyclone threat to be overblown (excuse the pun). 

Andrew McNeil owns Port Douglas Nautical Marine Sales on Wharf Street and reckons the Bureau of Meteorology has a lot of anxiety to answer for. 

“We’ve been watching the live updates and the windiest it got at Low Isles, was gusts of 70 kilometres per hour. Even at Bouganville Reef, out to sea where the centre of Nathan went straight over over, it had 60-knot winds, which is not much at all. 

“Understandably people have to take precautions but look at the live statistics to make a decision.”

Sassi Cusina on Macrossan Street had a ‘pretty much dead’ night on Thursday and closed early, according to staff. 

Meanwhile Paddy’s Port Douglas up the road saw a fairly normal night’s trading but with less traffic from shuttlebuses than usual. 

Steve Hull at Iron Bar said it was time media stopped focusing on the negatives of cyclone approaches and started including the positives.

“We need rain, the interior needs rain and cyclones bring a lot of it,” he said. 

“Every time there’s a cyclone the TV says it’s going to be a disaster, why don’t we say ‘hey here’s a lot more rain for the blokes inland who are in drought’?

“If there’s damage to be done, it’s done by the media, not cyclones.”

National media turned out to Port Douglas in anticipation of the cyclone, with reporters and crews from ABC and WIN collecting footage at the Courthouse Hotel on Thursday afternoon and Sunrise’s David ‘Kochie’ Koch interviewing Douglas Shire Mayor Julia Leu this morning. 

Cr Leu stressed that Port Douglas and Douglas Shire were still open for business and urged people not to dismiss it as a holiday destination.