Sunwater cops Callide spray

Dakenba cotton and grains producer Philip Wilkie was in disbelief of the flash flood that swept across three of his properties north of Callide Creek on Friday night.

"We could've been all killed actually," Mr Wilkie said as he began the back-breaking clean-up.

"We just can't believe it. It went right over the top of our cotton, which has never happened before and we've been here over 50 years.

"I've never seen a flood like that."

He estimated the value of his 160-hectare irrigated cotton crop had halved, but he said the half a million dollars lost there "is nothing compared to all the other stuff we've got to replace".

"Literally millions of dollars. I was just driving around today and the soil lost ... you just can't replace it," Mr Wilkie said. "Some of the country will never recover. There's a paddock with massive holes, the water has taken out thousands of metres of soil - it's sickening."

Three of his water tanks, picked up by the flood force, sit out of place among damaged fields.

Mr Wilkie is one of many flood-affected residents who believe SunWater's procedures for Callide Dam water releases are to blame.

SunWater said the Callide Dam's gates were set to automatically

open when water levels reached 90 percent capacity and it was not designed for flood mitigation.

During last Friday night a peak of 1.8 Olympic swimming pools per second flowed through the dam spillway.

Teamed with "unprecedented" rainfall upstream of the dam, identified as a one-in 10,000 year event, led to rapid increase in

water levels, a SunWater spokesperson said.

Water levels rose by more than 7m in three hours last Friday night, compared with 5.5m over 18 hours during Cyclone Oswald in 2013.

But Mr Wilkie claimed SunWater was "negligent" in disregarding the early warning signs.

"There's that many farmers and businesses in Biloela and surrounding areas that are so disappointed that the dam could've been dropped down before [reaching 90 per cent capacity]," Mr Wilkie said.

"The Bureau of Meteorology was saying we were definitely getting at least 100mm of rain with Cyclone Marcia.

"We kept making phone calls after phone calls to SunWater for up to three days before the rain and they took no notice of it.

"They kept telling us they were 'monitoring it'.

Locals are raising questions over what exactly was being "monitored" as little warning was given once the Callide Dam gates automatically opened.

Mr Wilkie said he received a "panicked" message at 9.30pm and within 30 minutes floodwater began raging through his family home, which is 20 metres from Callide Creek, on his property, Emohruo. He estimates it was 1.5 metres high.

While residents such as Mr Wilkie came to terms with the damage left, they hope the review will force the Callide Dam operations management guidelines to change before history repeated itself again.

"We thought that after the 2013 flood, they would've learnt, but now as far as I'm concerned SunWater are idiots," Mr Wilkie said.

SunWater responded to the Premier's announcement of the independent review, saying the company "understands the government will undertake a review of the operation of Callide Dam during Tropical Cyclone Marcia and will fully participate in all aspects."