| FLYER ISSUE 2: FEBRUARY 2023 | |
NEXT FMA MEETING: THURSDAY 25 MAY AT NATIONAL CONFERENCE, SYDNEY
A MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
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The last two weeks has brought our FMA Members and fellow flood fanatics together for our Quarterly Meetings in Brisbane and Sydney. It is so good to meet together “post Covid”, and we heard updates from every agency and every activity. During our Meetings I heard of the devastation from flooding over the past two years and I can’t help admiring the work of our SES who are the unsung heroes over the last few months and years. For example, in NSW, more than 6,200
homes were damaged or destroyed in the Northern Rivers floods in 2022 and 2023. Can you imagine the thousands of calls to SES and the number of volunteers who have spent their waking moments helping people in all kinds of weather and circumstances over the past couple of years or more? It’s an incredible testimony to the dedication of our volunteers and I hope there are more people who decide to join up with their local SES as a result of the devastation we have witnessed. Check the SES website
and see the community events which SES are holding from time to time. Sign up and you’ll receive an orange shirt and an instant bunch of new found friends. ID
Ian Dinham | FMA
President
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FMA NATIONAL CONFERENCE EARLY REGISTRATIONS CLOSE SOON
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The FMA National Conference is just 12 weeks away, and early registrations close on 31 March. In a major announcement at the Quarterly Meeting in Sydney, Duncan McLuckie, Principal Flood Specialist at the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Environment and Heritage Group, said that in-principle agreement had been reached with FMA on a sponsorship which will include DPE EHG providing Conference
registrations to a number of financially challenged flood-affected Councils. FMA President Ian Dinham thanked Mr McLuckie for his support for the annual Conference over many years, and said this initiative will result in some of NSW’s most needy Councils being able to benefit from the knowledge of the country’s leading flood experts as they face the many challenges of recovery, reconstruction and planning for future floods. Other new sponsors this month are: Silver - Queensland Reconstruction Authority
- NSW State Emergency Service
- Bureau of Meteorology
- Lixia
Thank you all for this valuable support. The Conference will be held at Sydney’s iconic Luna Park Conference Venues, right on the
water, beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge. If you haven’t seen the venue’s website, particularly the video, check it out now: lunaparkvenues.com/corporate/ Mayors and Councillors will benefit from this Conference This Conference is not just for
technical people. Mayors and Councillors will particularly benefit from the case studies of the last year’s floods. This is a great opportunity to learn what happened, what worked, what didn’t work, and how to plan better for the next flood. The Conference program involving 90 presentations in up to four specialised streams is being finalised, and will be available very soon. Details are at: floodplainconference.com
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FMA EXCELLENCE AWARDS NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!
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As announced at the Quarterly Meeting in Sydney, IAG is the naming rights sponsor of the 2023 FMA Young Floodplain Manager of the Year Award, and the FMA Flood Risk Management Project of the Year Award. The continuing support of IAG and NRMA Insurance for the Excellence Awards and FMA Conferences is very much appreciated. NRMA Insurance first sponsored the FRM Project of the Year Award in 2014. Floodplain Management Australia’s nation-wide Excellence Awards publicly
recognise the outstanding contribution of FMA organisations and individuals towards promoting wise land use planning, reducing flood impacts, managing flood incidents or restoring communities after a flood event.
The winners of the 2023 Excellence Awards will be announced at the FMA National Conference at Sydney on the 25th May.
The FMA Excellence Awards are the highlight of our National Conference each year, and they offer the invaluable opportunity to showcase the incredible work professionals in the field of flood risk management have undertaken in the past 12 months. The Excellence Awards are split into three categories: FMA-IAG Flood Risk Management Project of the Year Award - Nominations are open to any current Full, Associate, Corporate, Professional, Individual or Student FMA Member. FMA-Allan Ezzy Flood Risk Manager of the Year Award - Nominations are open to any current FMA Member, or individual who is an employee or representative of an FMA Member. FMA-IAG Young Floodplain Manager of the Year Award - Nominations are open to any current FMA Member, or individual who is an employee or representative of an FMA Member. You must also be a current Member of the Young Floodplain Manager network. Information and Nomination Forms are available at floods.asn.au/ea. Nominations close Friday 24 March at 11.59pm.
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QLD AND NSW/ACT QUARTERLY MEETINGS WELL ATTENDED
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High attendance numbers at the Queensland and NSW/ACT Chapters Quarterly Meetings in February confirmed Members’ strong support for our traditional meeting format. Thank you to Martin Boshoff and AECOM for hosting the Brisbane Meeting at their spacious board room, and for arranging the trial hook-up with AECOM offices in Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton, allowing a small number of remote Members to join
us. Included in the program were Senior Hydrologist Dr Ahrim Lee and Climatologist Tamika Tihema from the Bureau of Meteorology, who provided a comprehensive update on weather events over the last quarter, and what to expect as the season turns. With La Nina continuing to weaken, the workload for Bureau staff has thankfully reduced. Over the three month period from 1 August to 31 October 3,043 Flood Warnings and 203 Flood Watches were issued across Australia; over the last
quarter that number has halved to 1,462 Warnings and 105 Watches. Some useful Bureau links are: Long-range forecasts: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/outlooks Australia rainfall and river conditions: http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/flood/index.shtml Water Data Online: http://www.bom.gov.au/waterdata/ Meteye for current to 7 day weather: http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/meteye/
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The Sydney FMA Meeting the following week featured a Workshop covering the Department of Planning and Environment’s Draft Shelter-in-place Guideline. Shelter-in-place has been a topic of conversation at many FMA Meetings and Conferences, and it is pleasing that DPE has produced this document for comment. Thank you to FMA Technical Director Danny Rose for facilitating the Workshop, and to panel
members Dr Melanie Schwecke, DPE; Peter Cinque, NSW SES; Dr Katharine Haynes, Macquarie University/Natural Hazards Research Australia; and Steven Molino, Molino Stewart. Feedback from the Workshop has been incorporated into FMA’s submission to DPE. FMA’s submissions can be found at: floods.asn.au/site/submissions
NSW RECONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY CEO APPOINTED
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CEO of Infrastructure NSW, Simon Draper, has been appointed as the first permanent CEO of the newly established NSW Reconstruction Authority. Minister for Planning and Minister for Homes Anthony Roberts said the Authority is focused on better preparing NSW communities against future disasters. “The Authority’s remit represents a unique alignment between disaster recovery and strategic planning which has not previously
existed in our State, and as the CEO, Simon will be responsible for working across the Government, with industry partners and our communities,” Mr Roberts said. Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke said Mr Draper’s appointment marks a new approach to disaster mitigation, preparedness and recovery. “While our emergency services organisations continue to lead the response to natural disasters, Simon and his team will focus on the crucial
tasks of recovery and risk mitigation,” Ms Cooke said. The NSW Reconstruction Authority is a statutory corporation established in response to the recommendations of the Independent Flood Inquiry.
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FIRST HAZARDS INSURANCE PARTNERSHIP MEETING
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The Hazards Insurance Partnership, involving the Federal Government and the insurance industry, has held its first meeting as part of aims to improve resilience for extreme weather risks and to put downward pressure on premiums. The meeting in Brisbane was attended by Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt, Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones, and Co-ordinator General of the National
Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) Brendan Moon. Representatives attended from the Insurance Council of Australia and five of the largest insurers, Treasury, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Australian Climate Service. $22.6 million was announced in the Federal Budget over four years for work focused on identifying the most pressing insurance issues in high-risk areas, targeting the best solutions, and supporting better consumer outcomes via more affordable cover and a better
understanding of insurance.
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The NSW Government has updated the Floods Near Me app and the Fires Near Me app into a single Hazards Near Me app. Improvements over the previous apps include the ability to create Watch Zones of 5 to 50 kilometres from a designated location, to tailor the emergency alerts which are received. You can download the app onto both Android and Apple smartphones.
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COMPARING THE SCAMANDER AND AVENUE RIVERS, TASMANIA
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Attendees at the 2022 FMA Conference in Toowoomba may recall the presentation by Lieselotte Fearman, concerning her research in the Scamander River catchment in North East Tasmania. Wiley has published an article based on a chapter of her Masters thesis, co-authored with her supervisor. Her research used GIS to compare two sub-catchments of the Scamander that have different lithology. The publication is
available at Wiley Online Library: http://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4115
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WATER PANEL EVENT 8 MARCH
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Flyer readers may find the following event of interest: Event
details Web link: https://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/event/2022/12/flood-forecasting-world-uncertainty-46481 Where: Engineers Australia, Brisbane
CBD When: 5pm, 8 March How much: $10 for EA members (light catering and drinks provided) Event summary Wen Wang, Senior Flood Hydrologist, Bureau of Meteorology, will take attendees on a journey "A Day in the Life of a Flood Forecaster" at The Bureau. During this presentation day-to-day challenges and how these are managed will be presented. Simone De Kleermaeker, an expert in Forecasting Systems from Deltares, will break down the theory of flood forecasting and highlight opportunities for efficient forecasting. Greg Scroope, Technical Lead, Flood Warning Infrastructure Program with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority’s (QRA) Recovery and Resilience team, will tell us more about the project he recently coordinated, which
involved the design and implementation of over 180 flood warning assets for 28 councils across Queensland. This
technical session will be held at Engineers Australia, Brisbane CBD, 8 March $10 for members. Beverages and light catering will be provided.
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FLOOD RESILIENCE STUDY TOUR OF THE NETHERLANDS
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Queensland Flood Community of Practice Convenor Piet Filet is inviting Expressions of Interest from anyone in joining a Flood Resilience and Climate Adaptation Study Tour to the Netherlands from 28 October to 10 November 2023. If you are interested please contact Piet: p.filet@griffith.edu.au
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YFM QLD kicked-off the year with an intimate discussion with several floodplain management practitioners who worked in the disaster management space during the February 2022 flood event. Participants were given the opportunity to have a small (virtual) room discussion with these practitioners and learn about the impacts of the experience upon the individuals from a professional and
personal perspective. The format of the event meant that it was not recorded, so here are some interesting stories and thoughts that came from this event; - The difficulty of being “on duty” for members of the public, whilst facing flooding within your personal life too (family members thinking of driving through flood waters, overland flow impacting one’s home!)
- COVID meant a number of staff were “on
duty” from home. Flooding also meant a number of staff couldn’t physically get into the Local Disaster Coordination Centre, or were faced with lengthy delays driving in/home!
- 12 months on; are we implementing what we’ve learnt to improve processes, or are we still busy playing catchup? So much work has been generated post flood, it may be surprising how many “lessons learnt” are yet to be implemented
- Fatigue management is more than just
rostering 12 hour shifts for the flood event itself. Post event, there’s still the immediate task of collecting flood marks, and then even after this, myriad urgent tasks that can drain your resources
- Multiple events across QLD/NSW/VIC has led to industry brain drain! Everyone’s busy and flat-out, and we’re losing professionals who are worn-out with this type of work. There’s a need to encourage new people to consider flooding careers
- Resilience of the public – 2010/2011
floods, consequences now seen of not “building back better”
- Staff member knowledge – there are both benefits and challenges in training and on-boarding “non-flood specialists” (eg drainage engineers) for flood event activation, particularly in an event the magnitude of February 2022.
- Flood forecasting/modelling/automation; one still needs to step back and critically review output data, as forecasts may not match
reality.
The next YFM QLD event will be a webinar after the FMA Conference in May. YFM QLD’s signature event for the year - the TriWater Cup- is likely to occur in July.
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UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
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FMA New South Wales/ACT Chapter Meeting Dates for 2023
Thursday 25 May - Annual General Meeting at the National Conference, Sydney Thursday 17 August - NSW/ACT Chapter Meeting at Sydney Thursday 16 November - NSW/ACT Chapter Meeting at Sydney. FMA Queensland Chapter Meeting Dates for 2023 Thursday 25 May - Annual General Meeting at the National Conference, Sydney Wednesday 9 August - Queensland Chapter Meeting at Brisbane Wednesday 8 November - Queensland Chapter Meeting at
Brisbane. ASFPM Conference, 7 - 11 May, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA FMA National Conference, 23 - 26 May, Sydney, NSW Queensland Disaster Management Conference, 30 May - 1 June, Brisbane, Queensland
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TRAVELLING CAPS AND BEANIES
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