Widespread flooding occurred over large areas of Queensland in December 2010 and January 2011. On the 17th January 2011 a Commission of Inquiry into the Queensland Floods of 2010/2011 was established (termed the Queensland Flood Commission of Inquiry (QFCI)). The QFCI released its final report on 16 March 2012. The report made 177 recommendations across a broad range of issues including floodplain management, land use planning, building regulations, insurance, mines, emergency management and dam management. The QFCI was the catalysts for the Queensland Flood Mapping Project (FMP). Phase 3 of the FMP was transitioned to the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM), Queensland.

FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT AND HAZARD MAPPING

Water Technology was commissioned by the DNRM to carry out flood risk assessment and hazard mapping for a total of 12 rural towns located throughout Queensland in two distinct stages. The towns assessed as part of the study included Condamine, Flinton, Dulacca, Goomburra, Isisford, Jandowae, Karara, Kolijo, Nebo, Woorabinda, Gogango and Goomburra Upper, and included seven Local Government Areas throughout Queensland including the Western Downs Regional Council, Southern Downs Regional Council, Mackay Regional Council, Rockhampton Regional Council, Woorabinda Aboriginal Shire Council, Longreach Regional Council and Isaac Regional Council.

The project included the preparation of two dimensional flood models for each of the 12 regional towns located throughout greater Queensland. The hydraulic models were validated to historical flood information provided by the DNRM which included flood levels, flood extent as well as anecdotal flood records available for each of the towns. Once validated, the hydraulic models were used to assess flood risks for a range of design flood events ranging in magnitude from the 2% AEP to 0.2% AEP events. Additionally, the models were also used to prepare a range of gauge increment maps to aid in emergency and disaster management functions. Extensive GIS mapping including flood animations were prepared to fully inform the outcomes from the flood risk assessments for each of the towns.

Water Technology was able to successfully deliver all 13 township flood risk assessments (comprising 48 separate TUFLOW models), including reporting, 170 GIS maps, and flood animations within a period of four weeks from commissioning. Water Technology was the only consultant to complete their studies on time and received great feedback from DNRM on the quality of the work and the manner in which it was undertaken.

The flood information generated from this project is provided to each of the Local Government Agencies throughout Queensland and will also ultimately be uploaded to the Queensland Governments Flood Portal FloodCheck, which is an interactive web portal to provide a centralised database and repository of flood related information for use by Local Government and other associated agencies.

If you’d like to know more about Queensland flood risk assessments and hazard mapping, please call +61 7 3105 1460.