It’s just 42 sleeps until the FMA National Conference in Melbourne and, if you haven’t already, please make sure you register soon to secure your preferred Pre-conference Workshop, Technical Tour and accommodation.

Entries have now closed for the annual Excellence Awards and we have again received an outstanding range of nominations from across Australia and New Zealand. Finalists will be revealed soon, with the winners of the FMA-IAG Young Floodplain Manager of the Year Award, FMA-Allan Ezzy Flood Risk Manager of the Year Award and FMA-IAG Flood Risk Management Project of the Year Award to be announced at the Conference Dinner at the Grand Ballroom, Pullman Melbourne on the Park.

A reminder for Members:  The Annual General Meeting is scheduled for Thursday afternoon, please make a point of attending so we can transact important business. 

The Notice of Meeting will be emailed in the coming weeks, and printed business papers will be available at the Conference.

Full Conference details and registration are at: floodplainconference.com

We are especially delighted to announce that the Platinum Sponsor for the 2025 FMA National Conference is Melbourne Water.

Melbourne Water is the floodplain manager for the Port Phillip and Westernport region - one of Australia’s largest urban floodplains. Covering 13,000 square kilometres, the region faces significant flood risk, with annual average damage costs estimated at $735.5 million and over 200,000 properties having at least a 1% chance of flooding in any given year.  

Together with our partners in local and state government, water authorities, and emergency services, we adopt a collaborative approach to flood management. The Flood Management Strategy, 2021 - 2031 provides a clear framework for reducing flood risk while supporting resilience and sustainability across the region.  

Melbourne Water is taking proactive steps to enhance climate resilience, providing accurate flood risk information to inform decisions and create safer communities. We are also committed to best-practice approaches, such as land use planning, flood information, education, flood warnings, emergency response and recovery. We play a critical role in constructing, maintaining, and upgrading drainage and flood infrastructure, delivering multiple benefits to communities.  

Guided by our vision - “Together we are aware, responsive and resilient” - we work with communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from flooding, ensuring we adapt to the changing environment and strengthen resilience over time.  

To find out more about Melbourne Water, visit www.melbournewater.com.au.

Last year, the NSW Reconstruction Authority, Rhelm, Catchment Simulations Solutions and WMAwater took out the FMA IAG Flood Risk Management Project of the Year for their Hawkesbury-Nepean River Flood Study. Here is an update on how the prize money has been used over the past twelve months:

The $10,000 prize has helped strengthen person-centred emergency preparedness (P-CEP) in the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley (HNV). These funds were used by the Hazard, Risk and Data Management Communications and Engagement team to host a workshop attended by 80 representatives from 43 organisations across 7 local government areas.

The workshop, presented in partnership with Sydney University’s Collaborating 4 Inclusion, was delivered through a flood risk lens in line with development of the HNV Disaster Adaptation Plan. It provided participants with the information and tools they need to support residents with additional needs including disability.  

The session also encouraged organisations to assess their business continuity in disaster events – including the locations of their staff and offices as well as their clients, supported by the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley flood mapping tool. An expert panel shared lived experience of disability and preparedness planning, the value of embedding P-CEP into emergency management frameworks and emergency services operations and the benefits of the P-CEP approach. 

This short video highlights reel shares some of the action from the day.

Following on from the workshop, the NSW Reconstruction Authority offered 30 funded places in P-CEP training to build a community of practice in the HNV. The cohort of learners graduated in mid-March and the ripple effect is already starting to appear. 

Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District has applied for grant funding to implement P-CEP across their organisation and Anglicare Blue Mountains hosted an event in April to share their learnings with 60+ volunteers, many of whom support residents in the HNV. This is fantastic news for communities in the HNV and a wonderful endorsement of the FMA’s support of raising flood risk awareness and preparedness.

FMA looks forward to showcasing even more fantastic work from our Members this year at the upcoming FMA Conference. We hope to see you there.

Flood barriers have been proven to be a viable and effective solution for reducing flood risk, but their use is a relatively new concept in Australia. 

A new guideline has been developed to provide insights into flood barrier functionality, design principles, construction considerations, and installation requirements.

The Australian Industry Flood Barrier Guideline is delivered by AWMA’s FloodFree team in collaboration with industry representatives. 

The need for a guideline was discussed at the FMA Quarterly Meeting held online in August 2021, when volunteers were sought to form an industry working group. Progress towards the guideline was reported at the 2023 FMA National Conference in Sydney. The Conference Paper on the topic is at the FMA website: P. Ghanem - Australian Flood Barrier Guideline.

The guideline covers mobile and demountable temporary flood barriers; buoyant, actuated and manual permanent flood barriers; safety and risk considerations; and maintenance and training.

The Flood Barrier Guideline is available at: https://www.floodfree.com.au

There are many questions we can try to answer through modelling the hydrologic process influencing the responses for existing or proposed catchment or climatic conditions. RORB, WBNM, URBS, RAFTS and ILSAX are household names to the water experts across Australia. Most have used one or more during their careers either out of passion or necessity. 

However, the rapidly developing methods and tools, industry’s desire for easy-to-use products and technology advancements have left some questioning what the future holds for these traditional hydrologic methods.

Sophia Buchanan from Jacobs has teamed up with Prof. James Ball from UTS to gather industry feedback on the use of traditional tools and methods and gain a better understanding of their longevity, ultimately answering the question – are they here to stay or on their way to retirement? 

Get involved by filling out their 10 minute survey here. The outcomes of this survey will be presented at the FMA National Conference in Melbourne.

For any questions about the survey please contact Sophia Buchannan:    sophia.buchanan@jacobs.com

The 2025 Resilient Australia Awards are now open for submissions. 

The Resilient Australia Awards celebrate and promote initiatives that build whole of community resilience to disasters and emergencies around Australia as well as capture and share examples of resilience in action. The awards recognise collaboration and innovative thinking across a broad range of sectors and initiatives that strengthen disaster resilience with communities, institutions, and the private sector.

The Resilient Australia Awards are sponsored by the Australian Government in partnership with the states and territories and managed by the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience (AIDR).

Submissions will be accepted in each state and territory for business, community, government, local government, schools, mental health and wellbeing, and photography award categories. The winners from each jurisdiction will be considered for two national awards, the Resilient Australia National Award, and the Resilient Australia National Collaboration and Partnership Award.
 

Jurisdictional award submissions will be accepted until 3 June 2025. 

National Research Award submissions will be accepted until 18 July 2025. 

For more information and to submit, visit www.aidr.org.au/raa. 

The NSW Floodplain Management Program provides financial support to local councils and eligible public land managers to help them manage flood risk in their communities, and supports the implementation of the NSW Government's Flood Prone Land Policy.

The 2025–26 funding round is open and closes on 16 April.

Full details at: https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/water/floodplains

Sharyn Westlake, from Greater Wellington Regional Council in New Zealand, has alerted us to the following upcoming events which may be of interest to readers:

Toward operationalising Nature-based Solutions in New Zealand Rivers

8 April 12:00pm NZST

In New Zealand, “Nature-based Solutions” (NbS) are frequently promoted with implicit, but unclear, linkages to river resilience. Despite increased interest in NbS, and general agreement that greater river resilience is necessary, there is considerable confusion about what outcomes look like and how they perform through time.

This presentation aims to accelerate NbS learning by raising awareness of learning resources and avoiding pitfalls of nature-based applications to rivers. 

To register https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN__Nkcl1mISuGuHm33S-Y7LA

Validating Impact-Based Flood Warnings: Lessons from France & Perspectives for New Zealand

16 April, 2:00pm NZST

Floods cause devastating losses worldwide, yet traditional early warning systems often rely on fixed hazard thresholds rather than real-world consequences. Impact-Based Warnings (IBWs) aim to bridge this gap by incorporating exposure and vulnerability, promising more targeted and actionable alerts. 

To register https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4oBn2JgETES1iXgULXvo3Q

The YFM are looking forward to catching up with you during the FMA Conference at our YFM Networking Function, sponsored by KBR.

Venue: Beer DeLuxe Federation Square
Address: Federation Square, Flinders St, Melbourne
Time: 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Dress: Casual
Cost: Included in Full Conference Registration Ticket
Please note this function is open to all delegates attending the Conference.

For details on Conference registration, visit floodplainconference.com.

Are you interested in joining YFM or finding out more? You can connect with the YFM by visiting the YFM Linkedin page here or submit a YFM Membership application at floods.asn.au/yfm.