Disaster management in Queensland

The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) is the lead agency responsible for disaster recovery and resilience policy in Queensland and manages and coordinates Queensland’s program of recovery and reconstruction funding within disaster-impacted communities, and delivers best practice administration of public reconstruction and resilience funds.

For more information on the role of wetlands and floodplains in disaster management see:

• Natural assets for flood and cyclone resilience Synthesis of scientific evidence on the role of natural assets to reduce the human impacts of floods and cyclones
• Natural assets for flood and cyclone resilience Review of planning mechanisms used worldwide for mitigation of natural disasters using a natural assets approach

Floodplains

Floodplains have evolved as the areas beside and adjacent rivers or streams that flood during high rainfall events. They can be narrow, steep, wide or flat, and may extend several kilometres away from the waterway itself. They are naturally adapted to regular flooding, and effectively slow down and ‘hold’ water.

When water is slowed down, it is usually less destructive to unprotected downstream habitats and settlements. Many studies have confirmed that floodplains play an important role in reducing the volume and mitigating the impact of flooding.

Essentially floodplains and wetlands give a landscape an area for floodwaters to go, which can be a useful tool for keeping flooding clear of settlements. It is important that floodplains and wetlands are protected and valued as a flood management tool.

Fringing vegetation

The plants that live in and alongside rivers and other wetlands can assist to slow down floodwaters and spread them through a catchment. Although this results in localised flooding, it lowers the concentration and velocity of the floodwater, which can reduce flood levels downstream.

Vegetation helps prevent soil erosion from flood water, reduces environmental damage downstream, reduces potential damage to water treatment and other critical community infrastructure and retains productive agricultural soil.

Find out more about riparian and other wetland vegetation types.

Coastal Ecosystems

It is predicted that Australia’s many coastal cities will face increasing risks of flooding and storm damage as sea levels rise and cyclones become more intense[2]. Coastal wetlands like mangroves, reefs and saltmarshes stabilise the shoreline, slow down waves and reduce the impact of storm surge. Waves and storm surges lose energy as they enter these areas, resulting in reduced damage to coastal settlements. Clearing these natural defences can be risky and costly.

When Hurricane Katrina struck the Mississippi Delta in 2005, a massive storm surge overtopped the engineered flood defences and inundated 80% of the city of New Orleans, killing hundreds and generating tens of billions of dollars of damage[4]

It is important that we learn from these experiences.  In the limited Australian records the highest water levels recorded in Australia were produced by Cyclone Mahina in 1899 in North Queensland. It reached a height of 43ft and killed around 400 people. The pearling fleet, which was at anchor nearby, was completely destroyed and many fish, sharks and dolphins were found 15m above sea level several kilometres inland. The wave extent was probably made worst by the steep coastal topography[1]. Flooding from late 2010 to January 2011, combined with Cyclone Yasi and much wetter than usual weather conditions since September 2010 is estimated to cost Queensland-wide around $6 billion[3]. Such costs of extreme events will reoccur as population and infrastructure increases and if coastal vegetation, wetlands and buffers are reduced or fully cleared along the coast.

Various site-specific studies have found that functioning and intact coastal ecosystems can provide a cost-effective alternative or addition to structural defences. This is particularly the case where existing structural defences are expensive to maintain. Mangroves, however, can be relatively cheap to plant but very effective in taking the pressure off engineered defences like seawalls, reducing their maintenance costs[5].

Coastal squeeze

Coastal areas are unstable landforms, meaning, for example, the position of a beach may change dramatically due to sand being moved in a storm or a rise in sea level. To enable coastal species to survive these changes the coastline needs to be able to 'move' e.g. species need to be able to move inland during severe erosion events. A significant threat for coastal areas is a restriction (or squeeze) on the coastal zone.

Coastal squeeze is often due to direct loss through the building of hard built structures that effectively 'fix' the coastline. Such structures may be unintentionally 'fixing' the shoreline, like coastal roads and towns, others are built to protect land and/or infrastructure from erosion and/or flooding.

Additional information

Additional links and information

• Rebuilding a stronger, more resilient Queensland—Queensland Reconstruction Authority
• The Queensland Flood Risk Management Framework sets the direction for flood risk management in Queensland, provides clarity around expectations, outline the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders involved and guides and supports decision-making by councils.
• Queensland Reconstruction Authority: Brisbane River Catchment - Strategic Floodplain Management Plan and Flood Studies
• Queensland Strategy for Disaster Resilience 2017
• Strategic Policy Framework for Riverine Flood Risk Manangement and Community Resilience
• Australian guidelines for the implementation of nature-based methods for coastal hazard risk reduction provides practical solutions to climate change impacts and challenges in the coastal zone.
• IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions is a global standard for nature based solutions developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• The Conversation new article: Wetlands have saved Australia $27 billion in storm damage over the past five decades
• Green Infrastructure Practices and Benefits Matrix
• Nature-Based Flood Mitigation Can Help Mississippi River Farmers
• FloodCheck map—Department of Natural Resources
  • Interactive FloodCheck map. This mapping interface shows floodline overlays, historical and detailed data relating to Queensland floods.
  • Flood mapping implementation kit (PDF, 877.0KB). This document is for local councils, their disaster management teams and other stakeholders to use flood mapping to deliver a more integrated approach to managing flood risk and improving community and business resilience to flood events.
  • Guide for flood studies and mapping in Queensland (PDF, 2.5MB).
• What are the consequences of floods?—Office of the Queensland Chief Scientist
• Queensland Strategy for Disaster Resilience—Department of Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning
• Wetlands: at the heart of Disaster Risk Reduction—Dr. Christopher Briggs Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
• National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) reports and case studies
• Values of coastal ecosystems in a changing climate—Reef Catchments
• SEQ Ecosystem Services Framework
• Impacts of hard surfaces
• Changes in climate
• Mangroves for coastal defence
• The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
• Flood control—Ramsar
• Wetlands for Disaster Risk Reduction
• Opportunities in Environmental Management for Disaster Risk Reduction: Recent Progress A Practice Area Review: In contribution to the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction—United Nations Environment Programme in collaboration with the UNISDR Partnership for Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction
• Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation—Global Issues Network
• ARC linkage project
• CoastAdapt—National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF)
• Wetlands save thousands, worth billions, James Cook University Media Release
• Valuation of disaster risk reduction ecosystem services of Australia’s coastal wetlands: review and recommendations, prepared by IDEEA Group for the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment

---

References

1. ^ Kerr, J (26 December 2014), 'Tropical Cyclone Mahina: Bid to have deadly March 1899 weather event upgraded in record books', ABC News. [online] Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-12-26/cyclone-mahina/5964342.
2. ^ Nott, J (30 January 2014), Tropical cyclone frequency falls to centuries-low in Australia – but will the lull last?. [online], The Conversation. Available at: http://theconversation.com/tropical-cyclone-frequency-falls-to-centuries-low-in-australia-but-will-the-lull-last-20814 [Accessed 1 February 2017].
3. ^ Queensland Government (2011), Budget Strategy and Outlook State Budget 2011–12 Budget Paper No.2. [online], vol. 2, Queensland Government, Queensland. Available at: http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/Documents/TableOffice/TabledPapers/2011/5311T4637.pdf.
4. ^ Ramsar, Flood Control. [online], vol. Factsheet 1 of 10, Ramsar, Switzerland. Available at: https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/tmp/pdf/info/values_floodcontrol_e.pdf.
5. ^ Spalding, M, McIvor, A, Tonneijck, FH, Tol, S & van Eijk, P (2014), Mangroves for coastal defence Guidelines for coastal managers & policy makers. [online], Wetlands International and The Nature Conservancy. Available at: http://www.nature.org/media/oceansandcoasts/mangroves-for-coastal-defence.pdf [Accessed 1 January 2014].
6. ^ University of Wisconsin-Madison. The why files - Science behind the news: Flood of Evidence. [online] Available at: http://whyfiles.org/107flood/credits.html [Accessed 11 September 2012].

Last updated: 12 January 2023