Central Queensland residents lucky not to be washed away by a dangerous flood during Cyclone Marcia received inadequate advice and warnings, according to a review of the Callide Dam's operations.
A wall of water was unleashed when emergency releases from an automatic dam gate began at the height of the downpour in February, inundating the towns of Biloela, Jambin and Goovigen.
A state government-ordered probe into the disaster was tabled in parliament on Thursday, suggesting the function of the dam could be changed to better mitigate future flooding.
Hydrologists found there would have been little change downstream had the dam gates been operated manually, or even if it had been reduced to 50 per cent capacity.
The delay in warning residents, when severe flooding was inevitable, was the most concerning aspects of the report.
The automatic releases began around 8.30pm, and within 10 minutes dam operator SunWater had sent a text message to those residents subscribed to their system.
But a wider warning message from disaster management authorities was not sent for another hour - at 9.40pm.
"We consider that the timing of these alerts in relation to the opening of the dam gates and the magnitude of the event could have been considerably reduced," Inspector-General of Emergency Management Iain McKenzie wrote.
But Mr McKenzie found no evidence that the dam's operation rules were breached.
SunWater said the probe affirmed the dam's management.
"Whilst we always believed that we managed and operated the dam appropriately, the findings ... are important to ensure the community concerns are answered," SunWater CEO Peter Boettcher said.
The report made 13 recommendations, including that SunWater and Banana Shire Council jointly develop a new multi-channel, common flood warning strategy with common language and consistent messaging.
Local Ivan Shepherdson, 78, who lives on a farm inundated for the second time in two years, agrees the warning systems were inadequate.
"This was one of our main complaints in 2013 - that we weren't notified (of flooding) - and they said they'd rectified that and everything was under control," he told AAP.
Mr Shepherdson, who has been an irrigator his entire life, was keen to see the dam used for flood mitigation.
But he warned it would have to be strictly controlled.
"To me, we've got to be responsible citizens and we've got to take other people into consideration, because their livelihoods are at stake too," he said.
The government accepted all the recommendations in principle.
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