Australia: Queensland 2011 floods: thousands of victims win class action over handling of dams

Almost 7,000 Queenslanders have won a class action over the state’s devastating 2011 floods, with a judge finding they were victims of negligence.

[…]

About 23,000 homes and businesses went under in Brisbane and Ipswich when authorities released huge amounts of water to protect the dams’ structural integrity.

[…]

Beech-Jones agreed with victims’ claims that engineers negligently managed the dams and that they did not factor in extraordinary rainfall forecasts in deciding how best to respond to the flood.

[…]

Outside the court, principal lawyer Rebecca Gilsenan said the focus must now be on securing timely compensation, and on making sure Queenslanders were never again at the mercy of mismanaged dams meant to mitigate flooding.

[…]