Apr12_Flood Commission releases final report
How did we measure up?
The Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry has released its final report into the 2010/11 flooding events.
Moreton Bay Regional Council will work with key agencies including emergency services and Seqwater to consider the findings and recommendations of the final report.
Council has completed more than 70 percent of the recommendations outlined in the Commission’s interim report released in August 2011.
Some recommendations involve an ongoing and longer-term response from council and other stakeholders.
The most significant achievements to date include:
· Rollout of the new MoretonAlert system
· Use of Facebook and Twitter as a communication tool in disaster management
· More disaster management information on council’s website
· Region-wide flood maps
· New SES facilities at Bribie Island and Caboolture
· Woodford SES trial
· Additional rainfall and river height gauges
In that time MoretonAlert has been progressively rolled out to provide local residents timely advice about potential flash-flooding events.
More than 3,300 local residents have already registered with the system to receive SMS, phone and email warning messages.
Council has been utilising social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide the latest road closure information, weather warnings and advice to local residents.
Additional community education and disaster management information had also been added to council’s website.
Council’s website now features handy storm ready tips and a new user-friendly format of information on the home-page during disaster events.
Preliminary flood mapping for rivers, creek systems and areas affected by storm tides is available on council’s website.
Council has continued to improve flood mapping data, and detailed high-quality flood maps for rivers and creek systems, including overland flow paths, are expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
Moreton Bay Regional Council will be installing six new river-height and rainfall monitoring gauges in coming months at Sheep Station Creek, Elimbah Creek, the Caboolture River, King John Creek, Todds Gully and Lagoon Creek.
Once operational, these gauges will take the total number of river-height and rainfall monitoring stations to more than twenty in the Moreton Bay Region.
The State Government’s funding for this project will assist council to continue to provide high-quality flood warnings and information, and disaster management advice to the community.
Our state of disaster readiness was also enhanced in September with the commencement of a trial SES group at Woodford.
More than twenty locals signed on to become members of the Woodford SES and were even deployed during January and February storm events to assist with sandbagging and other SES tasks.
Council has continued its support for the SES with the official opening of the new Bribie Island SES depot in August 2011 and the relocation of the Caboolture SES in November to a council facility with more training and storage space for the group.
A protocol for emergency access to Vores Road has been established between Seqwater, council, police, fire and ambulance.
Council continues to investigate the feasibility of options for Youngs Crossing Road and how the impact of Seqwater dam releases may be lessened where possible.
Moreton Bay Regional Council is also progressing consideration of a flood buy-back policy.
The policy will seek to establish a set of criteria to evaluate and prioritise properties in high-risk areas of the region for potential purchase, and is subject to future budget considerations.
Council has completed more than 70 percent of the recommendations outlined in the Commission’s interim report released in August 2011.
Some recommendations involve an ongoing and longer-term response from council and other stakeholders.
The most significant achievements to date include:
· Rollout of the new MoretonAlert system
· Use of Facebook and Twitter as a communication tool in disaster management
· More disaster management information on council’s website
· Region-wide flood maps
· New SES facilities at Bribie Island and Caboolture
· Woodford SES trial
· Additional rainfall and river height gauges
In that time MoretonAlert has been progressively rolled out to provide local residents timely advice about potential flash-flooding events.
More than 3,300 local residents have already registered with the system to receive SMS, phone and email warning messages.
Council has been utilising social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide the latest road closure information, weather warnings and advice to local residents.
Additional community education and disaster management information had also been added to council’s website.
Council’s website now features handy storm ready tips and a new user-friendly format of information on the home-page during disaster events.
Preliminary flood mapping for rivers, creek systems and areas affected by storm tides is available on council’s website.
Council has continued to improve flood mapping data, and detailed high-quality flood maps for rivers and creek systems, including overland flow paths, are expected to be finalised by the end of the year.
Moreton Bay Regional Council will be installing six new river-height and rainfall monitoring gauges in coming months at Sheep Station Creek, Elimbah Creek, the Caboolture River, King John Creek, Todds Gully and Lagoon Creek.
Once operational, these gauges will take the total number of river-height and rainfall monitoring stations to more than twenty in the Moreton Bay Region.
The State Government’s funding for this project will assist council to continue to provide high-quality flood warnings and information, and disaster management advice to the community.
Our state of disaster readiness was also enhanced in September with the commencement of a trial SES group at Woodford.
More than twenty locals signed on to become members of the Woodford SES and were even deployed during January and February storm events to assist with sandbagging and other SES tasks.
Council has continued its support for the SES with the official opening of the new Bribie Island SES depot in August 2011 and the relocation of the Caboolture SES in November to a council facility with more training and storage space for the group.
A protocol for emergency access to Vores Road has been established between Seqwater, council, police, fire and ambulance.
Council continues to investigate the feasibility of options for Youngs Crossing Road and how the impact of Seqwater dam releases may be lessened where possible.
Moreton Bay Regional Council is also progressing consideration of a flood buy-back policy.
The policy will seek to establish a set of criteria to evaluate and prioritise properties in high-risk areas of the region for potential purchase, and is subject to future budget considerations.
