8/6/2019 Flood Report Summary

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Australia has an extremely variable climate,and is truly a ‘land o droughts and ooding rains’. Throughout Australia’s long history, theood‑drought cycle has been a natural part o li e,with periods o severe drought ollowed by extensiveooding playing an important and defning role inshaping the Australian landscape and how we live.

Early Australians typically established settlementson oodplains, along waterways and on coasts,where ood and water were plenti ul. As a result,oods have had a pro ound e ect on human li eand property. As devastating as recent events havebeen, they are not unique: 77 oods were recordedin Australia in the past 35 years o the 20th century;eight major oods were recorded in Australia inthe 19th century; 23 in the 20th century; and six inthe frst decade o the 21st century. And nature willundoubtedly continue to surprise us into the uture.

It is also important to recognise that oods can havesome benefcial consequences, or example throughreplenishing water resources. Most o Australia’sunique ora and auna have adapted to and dependon ood cycles, relying on the oods to trigger breeding, disperse seed, provide ood sources andconnect habitats.

In order to reduce the risk o oods to communities,economies and environments into the uture,it is important that lessons rom past oods,and advancements in knowledge and technology,are e ectively communicated and applied.

An important contribution the science andengineering community can make is to help reducethis risk, by minimising the chance that communitiesand in rastructure will be ooded, and mitigating the negative impacts when oods occur. We knowa lot about ood risk: more than 1000 Australianood studies have been conducted, and scientists

and engineers have developed a very sophisticatedarmoury o methods to orecast and manage oodsto reduce risk. However, there is still uncertaintyabout the many interacting actors that in uencesuch an event, how these actors are changing intime, and the consequences o a ood i it occurs.Moreover, nature is unpredictable, so no matter howdetailed and clever our calculations and managementstrategies may be, there will always be a risk o ood.

O course, social science and government policy alsoplay pivotal roles in reducing the negative impactso oods, improving emergency responses andoptimising recovery o communities ollowing a ood.Improvements in this regard rely not just on socialscience research, but also on government leadershipand community awareness and engagement.Given the science and engineering outlook o this document, ood emergency responses andrecovery, which are primarily rooted in social scienceand policy, will not be addressed. This reportconcentrates on foods caused by rain all and onthree key themes to understanding foods. The three

themes are foods and their consequences, foodorecasts and warnings, and managing foods. Theollowing paragraphs expand on these three themes,pose the questions we have sought to respond to,and summarise the answers.

Introduction

The ooded Balonne River cuts a road near St George,Queensland, March 2010. Photo by: Michael Marston

AnswersQ uestionsUnderstanding foods:

Understanding Floods: Questions & Answers

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