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The former mayor of Queensland's Palm Island says his community has been neglected by authorities as Cyclone Yasi's ferocious winds bear down on the state's far north coast.
Former mayor of the mainly indigenous community Rob Blackley said there had been no warnings to evacuate issued to the island, despite it being right in the path of the category five cyclone.
"Well, there haven't really been any warnings, you know not much communication going around," he told the Seven Network on Wednesday.
Mr Blackley said Palm Island, which lies off Queensland's coast, north of Townsville, has not been evacuated and accused authorities of ignoring its population of about 3000.
"Well it's just a continuation of the 'out of sight out of mind' mentality ... that exists with Aboriginal communities," he said.
He said the island always got lumped in the "too hard basket".
Strong winds and heavy rain were already lashing the island, Mr Blackley said.
The island's evacuation centre, hospital and state emergency service buildings were not very high above sea level and were unlikely to be safe once the cyclone hit, he said.
"There was talk about whether anyone would be evacuated and a lot of the state government personnel, teachers, hospital workers and the police, they were advised to leave," Mr Blackley said.
"A lot of them stayed.
"But no-one really advised community people to leave."
He said it was "interesting" that other islands, such as Hinchinbrook, were evacuated but Palm Island was not.
- AAP
