Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors
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About the Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors
Queensland is the most disaster impacted state in Australia, with flooding causing the most damage. As Queensland’s population grows, and the impacts of global warming result in an increased frequency of large-scale, destructive floods, more needs to be done to ensure our communities are prepared for and resilient to flooding events.
The Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors project has been undertaken by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) to provide an overview of Queensland's current strengths, needs, gaps and challenges in delivering contemporary flood risk management. This is the first ever comprehensive statewide assessment of flood risk management processes, based on analysis of key flood risk factors, across every Local Government Area in Queensland, using data current as of December 2022. It has been undertaken in consultation with councils, industry and other state agencies, and will lead to stronger flood risk management capability across Queensland.
The Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors is an action under the Queensland Flood Risk Management Framework (2021) (QFRMF) which describes the agreed process for flood risk management in Queensland, clarifies roles and responsibilities for all stakeholders, and articulates the outcomes being sought through its implementation. Under the QFRMF, QRA is responsible for identifying priority catchments, and coordinating funding streams. The outcomes will be used to guide investment needs across the state to support implementation of the QFRMF, to ensure our communities are aware, prepared and resilient to flooding.
The Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors Technical Report
The Technical Report for the Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors details the project background, purpose, project principles, terminology, analysis, trends, references, and frequently asked questions.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A. The SAFRF will deliver Queensland’s first ever comprehensive statewide assessment of flood risk management in Queensland, based on analysis of key flood risk factors across every Queensland council.
A. The SAFRF supports the implementation of the Queensland Flood Risk Management Framework through providing a state overview of our current strengths, needs, gaps and challenges. It will lead to stronger flood risk management capability statewide, as well as feed into the building a case for proactive investment in Flood Risk Management (FRM).
A. This initiative is being coordinated by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) in consultation with councils, industry and other state agencies.
A. The QRA is responsible for updating, analysing, reporting, and evaluating the SAFRF. We rely on Councils for some of the input data.
A. The SAFRF will:
- identify flood risk factors and needs to facilitate effective FRM
- support proactive funding streams, rather than relying on reactive grants-based programs after events/activations
- enable streamlined funding applications in areas of high need
- provide avenues for the state to provide technical information to councils about statewide data availability/assessment results
- assist regions to understand their collective needs and opportunities for collaboration
- formalise an approach for data sharing and provide an avenue for councils to proactively inform the state of their FRM needs.
A. Currently Queensland has no established system or data at a statewide level to inform pro-active short, medium, or long-term FRM programs of work and to guide prioritisation of funding.
The ultimate vision is an investment program setting out current and future planned flood risk management projects.
As FRM project needs are not currently well established across the state, a strategy will be developed to inform Flood Risk Management needs according to themes and proposed investment to fulfill these needs over the next 10 years. Themes may include:
- LiDAR and data capture
- flood studies
- flood risk management studies, strategies, and plans
- community awareness and resilience
- flood warning infrastructure
- flood warning systems
- road flood immunity upgrades
- physical flood mitigations
- property specific flood mitigations
- landscape and environmental mitigations.
Other sources of information, such as council Local Resilience Action Plans and Local Flood Risk Management Plans, will also be taken into consideration in developing this strategy, which is only in the very early stages of planning. Extensive stakeholder consultation to be undertaken in 2023 to help shape this document
A. The local action plans developed under the Regional Resilience Strategies will be referred to when identifying eligible projects as funding opportunities become available. The approval of funding will still consider competing priorities, and the SAFRF will assist in informing these priorities.
A. The SAFRF:
- will not rule out any applications for FRM funding, but may simplify process for higher needs councils
- will not replace or fulfill Queensland Emergency Risk Management Framework (QERMF) or State Natural Hazards Risk assessment
- is not a flood risk assessment in line with Queensland Flood Risk Management Framework process (drawn from the Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook 7: Managing the Floodplain).
Summary of the Flood Risk Factor trends across Queensland
The SAFRF consistently assesses the relative need of all 78 councils across Queensland for 12 Flood Risk Factors as outlined in the table below.
The SAFRF outlines the following overall statewide trends:
- Queensland's largest Flood Risk Management (FRM) need is for further contemporary flood studies and flood risk management strategies, and future investment where:
- 60% of councils have a high flood risk demonstrated through historical events
- 56% of councils have a potential high need for additional capacity support.
- Queensland's current river and rainfall gauge coverage is strong:
- 82% of councils have a low need for further rain gauges
- 77% of councils have a low need for river gauges.
- Queensland's potential isolation risk from roads in the floodplain shows 37% of councils assessed as having a high need.
- Queensland's potential future flood risk, either from high population growth or future residential release areas within 1% AEP extent, shows 37% of councils assessed as high or moderate.
Table: Flood Risk Factors by LGA totals for High/Moderate/Low relative needs
|
Flood Risk Factor |
HIGH |
MODERATE |
LOW |
Definition |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
LiDAR coverage need |
17 |
30 |
31 |
Relative need for LiDAR to define the topography and support undertaking contemporary flood studies, based on the extent, quality and age of existing LiDAR |
|
Contemporary flood studies need |
68 |
0 |
10 |
Relative need for further flood studies to define the flood behaviour, based on the existing coverage of Level 3 flood studies in that area |
|
Current exposure to flooding |
18 |
6 |
54 |
Shows the relative number of people living in the 1% AEP* extent |
|
Potential future exposure to flooding |
5 |
24 |
49 |
Shows the relative potential for increases in people living in the 1% AEP extent* considering population growth and future zoned residential land only |
|
Historical flooding and DRFA activations |
47 |
21 |
10 |
Shows the relative number of historical floods or DRFA activations due to flooding |
|
Council and state roads in the 1% AEP* extent |
29 |
24 |
25 |
Shows the relative percentage of roads and length of council and state roads located within the 1% AEP* extent |
|
Community vulnerability |
27 |
19 |
32 |
Relative vulnerability of communities based on socio-economic factors (obtained from Census) which increase a communities susceptibility to negative impacts of flooding |
|
Flood risk management process maturity need |
57 |
15 |
6 |
Shows the relative need to support councils through the flood risk management process, as described in the QFRMF, based on the type of studies available |
|
Flood warning system |
7 |
7 |
64 |
Need for rainfall gauges to support flood warning systems |
|
Flood warning system |
8 |
10 |
60 |
Need for river gauges to support flood warning systems |
|
Community awareness and education need |
22 |
16 |
40 |
Shows the relative need for further community awareness and education activities, based on the results of Get Ready research and ABS statistics |
|
Council capacity need |
44 |
19 |
15 |
Shows the relative need to provide addition support to council based on rates base and number of in-house council staff |
*1% AEP extent or Queensland Flood Assessment Overlay extent where not available
Interactive map: Results of the Statewide Assessment of Flood Risk Factors by state and LGA
The interactive map can be filtered by Flood Risk Factor and can show results by both state and individual LGA.
SAFRF assessment methodology and data
The SAFRF Technical Report assessment methodology and data are outlined in the SAFRF Technical Report which can be made available on request.
More information
QRA Flood Risk Management team
Email: floodteam@qra.qld.gov.au