Joh Bjelke-Petersen's Wivenhoe Dam was meant to be an assured shield

FOR Goodna publican Tony Prentice it has been a long, hard slog back from that bleak day in January 2011 when the Brisbane River erupted.

Tony Prentice

FOR Goodna publican Tony Prentice it has been a long, hard slog back from that bleak day in January 2011 when the Brisbane River erupted.

The flood reached 11m, leaving only the rooftop of his hotel's liquor barn showing.

Nearly three years and $1.5 million later there's still work to be done to get the place back to what it was.

"There are plenty of things we need to do," he said yesterday, pointing to the donated furniture that allowed him to reopen the main bar and dining room in the aftermath of the floods.

"We should replace those, but it's just more money. The finances are pretty strapped."

Mr Prentice, 69, bought the hotel 17 years ago, knowing it had also gone under in Brisbane's 1974 floods.

He wasn't worried he couldn't get insurance; his great friend former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen had assured him that Brisbane's supposed flood shield, Wivenhoe Dam, would always protect the city.

Mr Prentice said he joined the class action brought on behalf of the 2011 flood victims in the belief the dam was mismanaged by its operator SEQWater.

"I never even considered there would be a problem because of Wivenhoe," he told The Australian. "To put it mildly, you could say I'm annoyed it was not used to the original intent."

Faced with a clean-up so big that "you hardly knew where to begin", Mr Prentice got by with "good banks and a lot of faith". The kindness he was shown touched him deeply. Rival publicans came up with the furniture he is still using.

And then there was the four volunteers from Melbourne who landed on his doorstep and stayed for six weeks until he got back on his feet.

Given he is yet to pay off the bills, "it would be nice to be re-imbursed for some of the money, at least".