There are more than a hundred ways to make Queensland safer during extreme rains and flooding, according to a much-anticipated report released earlier this month. Now the race is on to implement them before the summer rainy season starts.

The Queensland Flood Commission of Inquiry released its interim report August 1, including 104 recommendations for all levels of government, dam officials, and emergency services. Among them were calls to review disaster management plans, institute or strengthen alert systems, and educate communities.

Prominently featured is the need to create clear dam policies allowing water reserves to be released when floods threaten. Much has been made of Water Utilities Minister Stephen Robertson’s failure to cut water levels at Wivenhoe Dam—a decision he said he based on a faulty understanding of the impact of not releasing the reserves and protocol, according to The Australian.

Robertson was probably not the only one nonplussed by the excessive rain. The commission report indicates the flooding, which killed 35 people and wreaked about A$5 billion in damages, took many people by surprise.

“The floods of December 2010 and January 2011 strained the resources of a state more used to coping with drought than flood,” Commissioner Catherine Holmes begins the report. “Their consequences were shocking; no-one could have believed that people could be swept by a torrent from their homes and killed … that some towns could be completely isolated for weeks, or that every last citizen of others would have to be evacuated…”

The commission looked into preparation and planning for flooding, the supply of essential services during the floods, the adequacy of forecasts and early warning systems, dam safety and flood mitigation, land use planning to minimize flood damages, and the performance of insurers in settling claims.

Report recommendations were specifically devised for implementation before the next rainy season, with the exception of some dam work. Queensland Premier Anna Bligh promised that would be the case.

"We knew there would be some tough lessons that would come out of it and the commission has certainly made some sobering findings," Bligh told the Courier-Mail "I give this commitment on behalf of the state government ... they will be fully implemented.”

Local governments, however, were concerned about making the tight deadlines without added manpower or funding.

“To be practical we might not be able to implement them all—we can start all of them, but we whether we finish all of them, we'll use a risk profile or a triage system to make sure that the highest and most important ones get done,” Local Government Association of Queensland CEO Greg Hallam told ABC News. “As a rule we'll be trying to do the entire lot, it's just a question of best endeavours and the availability and researching of other agencies we have to work with.”

Time will tell. Wet weather generally begins in October and ramps up through February and March. The commission’s final report and recommendations are due February 24, 2012.