ARGOON farmer Nathan Harch isn't buying the line from SunWater that it was just following standard procedure when water released from Callide Dam last week combined with the Marcia deluge.
Mr Harch is one of hundreds of producers counting the cost of Cyclone Marcia after flood water tore through his property near Jambin late last week.
"The Wednesday before it all, I tried to make contact with SunWater and I was told people would ring me by 5pm that day but nobody called me back," Mr Harch said.
"Finally, I got one of the locals to speak to me and asked them what their plan of attack was and they said they had no plan.
"I told them there was a lot of rain coming and they said they had been told to follow regular operat-ional instructions."
Mr Harch said he had received news reports of the oncoming weather and had moved to prepare his property the best he could.
"If they release the dam when it hits 100 per cent, the creek goes from having no water in it to having 10.5 metres running down it in a matter of minutes - it can't handle it. We bought this property five years ago and this is the second time we've been annihilated by the Callide Dam being released during a heavy rain event.
"With this much damage, we may not get a winter crop in because of the amount of topsoil we've lost."
Mr Harch said it was no longer the immediate impact of the cyclone which would affect the small family business but the future investment in rebuilding the topsoil.
"We've lost about $60,000 with our mung bean crop and I'm not holding out hope that it'll come back. But we're not worried we've lost a crop anymore, it's really more the topsoil - that's our livelihood and it's been washed away."
Kate Stark
Queensland Country Life's markets editor.
Queensland Country Life's markets editor.
