LESSONS LEARNED FROM PAST NOTABLE DISASTERS

AUSTRALIAPART 1: FLOODS

Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, Vienna,

Virginia, USA 

AUSTRALIA

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIADISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA

NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED NATURAL HAZARDS THAT HAVE CAUSED DISASTERS IN AUSTRALIADISASTERS IN AUSTRALIA

FLOODS

CYCLONES

EARTHQUAKES

WILDFIRES

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE

GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR SAVING LIVES, BUT LOW BEMEFIT/COST FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY

HIGH BENEFIT/COST FOR SAVING LIVES, BUT LOW BEMEFIT/COST FOR PROTECTING PROPERTY

GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT OF HARM’S WAYOF HARM’S WAY

GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT GOAL: MOVE PEOPLE OUT OF HARM’S WAYOF HARM’S WAY

Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters

Planet Earth’s atmospheric-hydrospheric-lithospheric interactions create situations favorable for FLOODS

A DISASTER is ---

--- the set of failures that overwhelm the capability of a community to respond without external help  when three continuums: 1)  people, 2) community (i.e., a set of habitats, livelihoods, and social constructs), and 3) complex events (e.g., floods, wildfires, ...,) intersect at a point in space and time.

Disasters are caused by single- or multiple-event natural hazards that, (for various reasons), cause

extreme levels of mortality, morbidity, homelessness,

joblessness, economic losses, or environmental impacts.

FLOOD HAZARDS

FLOOD HAZARDS (AKA

POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS)

• TOO MUCH WATER DISCHARGED WITHIN THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM TO BE ACCOMMODATED NORMALLY IN THE REGIONAL WATER CYCLE

• EROSION

• SCOUR

• MUDFLOWS

LOSS OF FUNCTION OF STRUCTURES IN FLOODPLAIN

FLOODSFLOODS

INUNDATION

INTERACTION WITH HAZARDOUS MATERIALS

STRUCTURAL/CONTENTS DAMAGE FROM WATER

WATER BORNE DISEASES (HEALTH PROBLEMS)

EROSION AND MUDFLOWS

CONTAMINATION OF GROUND WATER

CAUSES OF RISK

CAUSES OF RISK

CASE HISTORIESCASE HISTORIES

AUSTRALIA’S AUSTRALIA’S COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIESAUSTRALIA’S AUSTRALIA’S COMMUNITIESCOMMUNITIES

DATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATIONDATA BASES DATA BASES AND INFORMATIONAND INFORMATION

HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS

•HAZARDS•INVENTORY AT RISK•VULNERABILITY•LOCATION

FLOOD RISK FLOOD RISK

RISK

ACCEPTABLE RISK

UNACCEPTABLE RISK

FLOOD DISASTER FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCERESILIENCE

•PREPAREDNESS•PROTECTION•EARLY WARNING•EMERGENCY RESPONSE•RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION

POLICY OPTIONSPOLICY OPTIONS

HIGH POTENTIAL LOSS EXPOSURES IN FLOODS

Entire communities;

People, property, infra-structure, business enterprise, government centers, crops, wildlife, and natural resources.

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS PREPAREDNESFOR THE EXPECTED AND UNEXPEDTED IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS TIMELY EMERGENCY RESPONSE IS ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

AUSTRALIA’S WORST FLOODS

Look at what happened in 2010-2011?

RECORD FLOODING IN AUSTRALIA:

NEW SOUTH WALESROCKHAMPTONTOOWOOMBA

BRISBANE

DECEMBER 10 – JANUARY 16, 2011

75 % OF QUEENSLAND A DISASTER ZONE

DECEMBER STORMS BROUGHT HEAVY RAINFALL: DEC. 17, 2010

IMPACTS: GREAT QUEENSLAND

FLOODING INUNDATED 22 TOWNS, DISPLACED 200,000,

KILLED 35, AND CAUSED LOSSES OF OVER $5 BILLION

NEW SOUTH WALES: 45 FLOOD DISASTER ZONES

INUNDATED ROADWAYS SHUT DOWN TRUCKS

TOWN OF THEODORE: INUNDATED

THEODORE’S HOUSES INUNDATED

TOWN OF BUNDABERG INUNDATED

TOWN OF BUNDABERG INUNDATED

TOWN OF BUNDABERG: INTERIOR DAMAGE

THE SECOND PHASE OF FLOODING HAPPENED IN

JANUARY

AN AREA OF FLOODING THE SIZE OF FRANCE AND GERMANY (OR, TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO) COMBINED WAS

CREATED IN QUEENSLAND

ROCKHAMPTON HIT HARD

• Rockhampton, a town of 77,000 people 370 miles north of Brisbane, lies close to the coast, on the Fitzroy, one of Australia's largest river systems.

ROCKHAMPTON ISOLATED

• All main routes to the south, north and west of the city were cut off by the rising water, rail lines and the airport runways were submerged, and floodwaters stretched for several miles in each direction.

ROCKHAMPTON: LIKE AN ISLAND, JANUARY 3, 2011

QUEENSLAND: WIDESPREAD IMPACTS

• Socioeconomic impacts for about 200 thousand people included: industrial slow-down, evacuations, a plague of snakes and crocodiles, and health care problems associated with evacuation and water-borne diseases.

FLEEING WITH POSSESSIONS: JANUARY 3, 2011

INUNDATED AIRPORT RUNWAYS: JANUARY 3, 2011

SANDBAGGING: JANUARY 3, 2011

FITZROY RIVER STILL RISING: JANUARY 3, 2011

FITZROY RIVER PEAKED AT 9.2 M: JANUARY 6, 2011

W ILDLIFE AFFECTED

• The local wildlife was caught off-guard by the flooding; bewildered and hungry kangaroos moved to high ground, and cattle were left lost and confused by the excessive water that inundated everything.

FLOOD WATERS IMPACT COAL INDUSTRY: JAN 7, 2011

COAL MINING INFRASTRUCTURE AFFECTED

• Australia's coal industry faced months of disruption as the result of key rail and road links being washed away during the flooding, and repairs of some infra-structure expected to take a year or more.

THE THIRD PHASE OF FLOODING BEGAN WITH A

FLASH FLOOD

JANUARY 11, 2011

FLASH FLOOD IN FLASH FLOOD IN TOOWOOMBATOOWOOMBA

• The flash flood, which brought a one kilometer wide wall of water into Toowoomba, was triggered by a freak storm — with up to 150 millimeters (6 inches) of rain in half an hour.

FLASH FLOOD:TOOWOOMBA,

FLASH FLOOD BRINGS WALL OF WATER: TOOMOOMBA: JAN 11, 2011

IMPACTS

• Cars were transformed into “boats” and then scrap metal as they floated away; giant metal industrial bins were tossed about as if made of paper; and houses were torn off their foundations.

THE FOURTH PHASE OF FLOODING BEGAN IN

BRISBANE

JANUARY 11 AND FOLLOWING

BRISBANE

• The city is protected by a large dam built upstream after floods devastated the downtown in 1974, but the reservoir was full, so officials had no choice but to release water, which caused flooding before the “FLOOD”.

BRISBANE

• MORE than 50 suburbs were flooded as the Brisbane River rose to 4.5 m or more above flood stage, with some areas being completely inundated.

BRISBANE PREPARING FOR FLOODING: JAN 8, 2011

BRISBANE: BEFORE FLOODING

BRISBANE: AFTER FLOODING

BRISBANE FLOODING: ADMIRALTY TOWERS; JAN 11, 2011

BRISBANE FLOODING: JAN 11, 2011

BRISBANE FLOODING: JAN 11, 2011

BRISBANE RIVER CRESTED AT 4.46 M: JAN 12, 2011

EMERGENCY SERVICES

• A difficult situation was made even more so by thunderstorms, high winds, raging rivers, and driving rain that made it very hard for helicopters and boats to reach and rescue flood victims.

WATER: URGENT NEEDS

• The Lockyer Valley Council, west of Brisbane, reported that its town water supply had failed and only hours of reserves remained for some towns

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS

EARLY WARN-ING (THE ISS) AND EVACU-ATION ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DISASTER RESILIENCE

LESSONS LEARNED ABOUT DISASTER RESILIENCE

ALL FLOODS

RECOVERY AND RECON-STRUCTION USUALLY MEANS STARTING OVER.

IT CAN BE DONE!IT CAN BE DONE!

• TOWARDS FLOOD DISASTER RESILIENCE, BUT FLOODS KEEP HAPPENING

FLOODING IN SOUTHEAST AUSTRALIA: MARCH 1-6, 2012

PREPARATION FOR WORST FLOODING SINCE 1974

• 9,000 people were evacuated after a week of rain and flooding that damaged 1,000 houses

• Local authorities declared a state of emergency, which gave police and the army more authority to carry out search and rescue ops.

The Mummumbidgee River, swollen after 20 cm (8 in) of

rainfall, peaked at 10.56 m, just below the height of Walla Walla’s protective levee.