Brisbane's emergency alert systems will be improved and its planning laws scrutinised as part of widespread measures recommended in a review of February's flood disaster.
Former Queensland governor and chief justice Paul de Jersey has handed down his report on Brisbane City Council's flood preparations and response.
He described the deluge – which led to river, creek and overland flooding – as a "worst-case scenario for Brisbane and its people".
Mr de Jersey commended the response of civic officers and elected representatives.
"Council did a good job in relation to this calamity and council is to be commended itself and of course council staff who are people of such dedication," he said.
But he also recommended widespread change in areas including emergency warnings, planning, flood proofing and infrastructure.
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the council would adopt all of the 37 recommendations, with improving the national early warning system a priority before the next disaster season.
"We'll be getting on to make sure these lessons are learned," he said.
The number one priority from the review is to improve the response time of the early alert system, Mr Schrinner said.
The mobile phone alert system was "taking far too long" to reach the 1.2 million residents in Brisbane during the rain event, Mr Schrinner said, adding only 14 per cent of Brisbane residents are signed up to voluntary alert system.
"One of the big things that I'm determined needs to be fixed sooner rather than later is the responsiveness of the early alert system," he said.
"The early alert system is absolutely critical. That system, controlled by the state government funded by the federal government, goes through to everyone that has a mobile phone.
"So whether they've signed up or not, it's forced through [to] mobile phones, but that system was taking far too long.
"We'd like to see that system improved.”
He said the council did its "absolute best" to respond to the unfolding weather but the predictions by the Bureau of Meteorology were "undercooked".
Council said 177 suburbs and 20,000 homes were affected by flooding.
Mr de Jersey said a strong theme throughout the review was "neighbours helping neighbours".
"One feature, which emerges very strongly during my review, was the spontaneous outpouring of mutual support amongst community members," he said.
"[This is] hardly surprising knowing the people of Brisbane as we do, because they are by nature, big hearted and generous people. But nevertheless, it was heart-warming."
Nicole Johnston, councillor for the badly affected Tennyson Ward, said she wants to see the early warning system expanded beyond the Brisbane River.
"It's very clear that we need better warning systems for our creek systems," she said.
"All they talk about at the moment is the Brisbane River but the creek systems in Brisbane impact on people's lives just as much as the river."
Opposition Leader Jared Cassidy said the Brisbane City Council failed to warn residents, despite having the data about creek flooding in Brisbane on the day of the flood.
"At the peak of that event, council knew that residents living around creeks and waterways were in desperate danger and they did nothing to warn people," he said.
Voluntary home purchase 'a costly scheme'
Mr Schrinner said he would support voluntary home purchase if other levels of government provided financial support.
"There were 23,000 properties flooded in this event. We couldn't possibly buy all of them," he said.
"Certainly, a targeted program is something that I support, and we'll be seeking federal and state funding to reactivate that program."
He said despite an almost $60 million investment over the last 10 years to buy back flood-affected homes, only a small number of houses were purchased.
Mr de Jersey said the real focus of the review was making houses and businesses "more resilient to withstand the effects of the flooding".
"Buildings can be raised, of course, but that's really as far as it can be taken, I think until money becomes available from other levels of government," he said.
Not only preparing for floods
Mr Schrinner said council will accept every single recommendation of the report.
He said the first recommendation from the review was to improve access for land-locked communities like the Pullenvale Ward in the western suburbs of the city.
"We'll update our planning in relation to those landlocked communities," he said.
Mr Schrinner said the report provided a "blueprint" for how future floods can be handled, but that plans also need to be in place for other types of disasters.
"In the last 30 years, there have been nine very wet years in south-east Queensland, but there have been 14 very dry years," Mr Schrinner said.
"I'm not just concerned about flooding, I'm concerned about other natural disasters as well," he said.
"And so, we'll be responsive, and we'll continue to update our plans as the climate continues to change."
The mud army's minimal deployment
During the latest floods, only 2,000 mud army volunteers were deployed to help with the clean-up in Brisbane, Mr de Jersey said.
The mud army's deployment was delayed due to bad weather conditions and government directives to stay home.
The review found by the time the mud army was deployed most of the work had been completed.
"I think the mud army is a wonderful concept, of course, but in conducting the review, I thought that the spontaneous outpouring of help within neighbourhoods, really in a sense, surpass the requirements for the mud army," Mr de Jersey said.
"But the reality is that nobody lost through the comparatively minimal deployment of the mud army."
Mr Cassidy said he is concerned with the transparency of the review and the issues it does not address.
"I think unfortunately, Mr de Jersey was only able to use information that the Lord Mayor and this LNP administration gave him," he said.
"This review doesn't fill me with confidence because it leaves all of these issues still up in the air."
