A Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of thousands of Queenslanders who lost their homes and businesses in the 2011 floods.
The massive class action lawsuit from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers took on SEQWater, Sunwater and the Queensland Government over the management of Wivenhoe Dam.
The plaintiffs argued that if the dam gates were opened earlier, the flood that inundated much of Brisbane would have been lessened.
Justice Robert Beech-Jones ruled that a "reasonably competent" engineer would have taken more action to mitigate the flood damage from earlier dam releases.
The judge said that all dam engineers committed a breach of duty between January 6 to January 11 of 2011.
Both parties will have February 2020 to consider damages.
The defendants will have to pay damages to all plaintiffs minus any compensation they would have received from government grants.
Seven thousand victims of the floods had signed on to the lawsuit, making it one of the biggest in Australian history.
More than 22,000 homes were flooded in and around Brisbane, and thousands of businesses were also inundated in the 2011 disaster.
It has taken more than five years for the proceedings to go through the NSW Supreme Court.
Former Ipswich councillor Paul Tully was one of the plaintiffs, after his Goodna home was flooded.
"A lot of families have split, a lot of people have moved on, some people never came back to the area," Mr Tully said yesterday.
"It's just been a very long, torturous process. We had insurance but it didn't cover everything, as a lot of people found, and that's why we're part of the class action."
Another flood victim, Lyn Lynch, lost everything. Her Fernvale property, 60 kilometres west of Brisbane, was slammed by the flood waters.
"The water ended up being just half an inch below the cornice of the ceiling," she told 9News.
Ms Lynch was insured but it didn't cover flood damage. They had to take their claim to the Insurance Ombudsman to get some compensation.
But the floods forced the closure of their business, and her family had to sell off their investment properties which was their retirement nest egg. Her partner got incredibly sick and couldn't work for months.
"There was no money coming in for eight months, not one penny. Everything was going out."
They got out of the house before the flood waters hit. But she's convinced the dam operators are responsible for the severity of the flood.
"Absolutely, 100 per cent, that is exactly how I feel. No one will ever convince me otherwise, because we saw it, we witnessed it," Ms Lynch said.
"It wasn't until they opened up the gates and then all of a sudden, it just suddenly came up, it was a massive amount just came straight up."
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