Flooding – Lessons from the past (Part 1) Floodplain Management Technical Forum November 2014 Paul Bennett Director Risk and Resilience Water and Catchments Group

1-Sep-2010 to 28-Feb-2011

What did we learn to help plan for the next flood?

Listen to the public……… Community education and preparedness Flood warnings Flood risk information and flood mapping Community engagement Confusion about agency roles and responsibilities Confusion about insurance Landuse planning Clearing of waterways Levee Management

12 Point Plan and Raft of Measures In February 2011 following the devastating Queensland floods Chas Keys, former Deputy Director-General of the NSW SES, posted an opinion piece outlining a 12 point plan for flood management

Lesson 1 …….. Stop seeing floods as enemies and needing to be overpowered Dutch – make room for the river (2.2B euros) Recognise 3 rd party impacts of mitigation Fertile floodplains

Lesson 2…….. Map the floodplains and make information available Warnings Landuse Planning Public Education Insurance Pricing

Lesson 3…….. Spend on mitigation to save relief Mitigation does not necessarily mean reduction in hazard –Levees –Education –Structures more flood resilient –Landuse planning – opportunity cost Productivity Commission Inquiry into Natural Disaster Funding

Lesson 4…….. Levees work (to some degree) Reduce AAD but will not stop the big floods Need clarity of responsibility for maintenance as there is usually a long time between drinks Clarity is required on levels of service and true costs and benefits There is a large legacy issue with community expectation

Lesson 5…….. We have under-estimated the role of insurance If it rains the same amount as the same areas will largely get wet and there is nothing we can do about it But we can reduce exposure Insurance offers several benefits: –Reduce exposure or shock –Provides pricing signals that expose risk

Lesson 6…….. Technology is improving even over the past few years LiDAR utilisation to support mapping PALs BoM services – excellent but need communities to use them FloodZoom Use of our fire fighting fleet (Infra-red)

Lesson 7…….. Playing field has changed Robustness is being built into EM and that includes all of our functions: –VFR, Bushfire Royal Commission, QLD Sensible synergies are being sought across all-hazards Accountability is increasing. Floodplain management will be subject to assurance audits but there is nothing to fear

Lesson 8…….. Best results continually demonstrated when communities have skin in the game More than consulted Understand and own their risk Stake in the services and have their say Particularly on the right mix including doing nothing

Flooding – Lessons from the past (Part 2) Floodplain Management Technical Forum November 2014 Sharyon Peart

Lesson 9…….. Involving key stakeholders Complex space involving a range of organisations, roles and responsibilities spread across organisations. Ensuring that key stakeholders had a voice

Lesson 10…….. Developing a collaborative work environment Improved outcomes as a result of taking on board feedback from key stakeholders Role of chair enabling people to have a say and ensure that the conversations were productive Building relationships to direct the process

Lesson 11…….. Understanding the context Can’t solve a problem unless you understand it Large damage from past floods around a period of economic slow down Working in a space of significant overhaul in emergency management High expectation from the community that something would be done Acknowledgement that there were no simple answers.

Lesson 12…….. Engaging the community Regional representation helped build community buy-in during public information sessions People’s attitudes changed during face to face meetings and when there was time given to understand the problem.