FMA Flyer 6 June
Published: Fri, 07/01/22
FLYER ISSUE 6: JUNE 2022
READ IN BROWSER https://archive.aweber.com/newsletter/awlist3776483/MTQ4NzI4ODA=/fma-flyer-6-june.htm
NEXT FMA MEETING: 17 AUGUST (BRISBANE) AND 25 AUGUST (SYDNEY)
This year I have been working in Gympie Queensland. It's a lovely city with beautiful green hills and valleys adorned with the peaceful winding and beautiful Mary River.
However, the Mary River seems to be a temperamental thing as it has turned ugly, with three very large major floods already this calendar year!
These floods occurred in January, February and May, with the February event reaching the 1 in 50 year level.
Mary has shown that flooding can occur anywhere at any time and to any extent. Overall I think there have been six major floods in Queensland so far this year, and we are only halfway through the year.
Sadly there has been a combined death toll of 28 as a result of these floods.
Elsewhere in the world, India is currently experiencing major flooding with over five million people impacted and 200,000 evacuated. I remember last time such floods hit India there were thousands of people who died from snake bites, as the snakes join with people in seeking higher ground.
In NSW, the devastating floods in Lismore and Ballina have prompted the state government to form a Select Committee Inquiry on the Response to the Major Flooding.
As part of the inquiry a hearing was held in June and I wish to congratulate our Technical Director, Mr Danny Rose, for his outstanding presentation to the associated hearing where he delivered a comprehensive opening statement followed by a Q&A session where he was grilled by eight politicians. All of whom would definitely have been impressed with the presentation and the work of FMA to which Danny testified.
There is further reference to the hearing in this newsletter.
Whether it's this hearing or further floods in Gympie, Lismore or India, the lesson to be learnt is that floods still kill more people and cost more than any other natural disaster. I hope the Select Committee makes solid recommendations for investment in flood mitigation, land use planning and emergency response to help bring these escalating personal and financial costs of flood disasters under control.
THE FRM SHORT COURSE IS BACK!
After a one year absence the Flood Risk Management Short Course is being offered again in 2022. The course is hosted by the University of Technology Sydney, with input from FMA and the NSW Government.
The link for the first block, Introduction to Floodplain Risk Management, (FRM) is now open for enrolments: https://open.uts.edu.au/uts-open/study-area/built-environment/introduction-to-floodplain-risk-management-frm/
Enrolments for the other 2 blocks will open shortly.
The course has been designed to:
Equip you with good understanding of how FRM is undertaken in NSW and other flood prone states in Australia and the roles of relevant agencies;
Provide you with a solid understanding of the principles of FRM and the desired outcomes of FRM projects;
Improve your skills to work on FRM projects and be more effectively involved in the FRM process; and
Enhance your ability to specify and manage FRM projects.
This course is delivered online. Students watch online lectures and video before attending three 1.5 hour sessions. During these sessions brief recaps of online material are provided leading to detailed Q&A.
Students break into small groups to workshop a realistic scenario providing an opportunity to apply what has been taught and to show how detail is applied into practice. Small groups are facilitated by industry experts. The session concludes with reinforcement of key messages and learning.
Tuesday 2 August - Thursday 18 August 2022.
Full price: $550 (GST-free)*
*Price subject to change. Please check price at time of purchase.
Two additional blocks will be made available on the following dates covering further professional development:
Block 2 Effective Consideration of Flood Risk in Land Use Planning - 1st September, 8th September and 15 September
Block 3 Managing Flood Risk to Existing Properties - 6th October, 13th October and 20th October.
HAROLD STERNBECK MEDAL AND YFM OUTSTANDING PRESENTER AWARD
FMA Communications Director Sue Ribbons, who coordinated evaluation of the Harold Sternbeck Medal and YFM Outstanding Presenter Award at the 2022 FMA National Conference, is delighted to announce this year's winners.
The Harold Sternbeck Medal competition for best presentation overall at the FMA Annual Conference has been an FMA Conference tradition for many years. Last year, in addition to the Harold Sternbeck Medal, we introduced the Young Floodplain Manager (YFM) Outstanding Presenter Award.
The winner of the 2022 Harold Sternbeck Medal is:
Alex Nero (AECOM) — Mental Health and Extreme Weather Events: Considering the Connections, Impacts and Risks. Alex is also a Young Floodplain Manager.
The winners of the 2022 Harold Sternbeck Highly Commended Awards are:
Cath Walker (Water Modelling Solutions) — Getting the most out of flood studies: Connecting consultants, councils and classrooms. Cath is also a Young Floodplain Manager.
David Tetley (Catchment Simulation Solutions) — How vegetation changes have altered flood levels in the Hawkesbury-Nepean.
Ella Harrison (Queensland Reconstruction Authority) — The Future of Flood Risk Management in Queensland.
Big congratulations to Alex Nero, a Young Floodplain Manager, whose presentation was ranked best overall at the Conference and so qualifies for both awards in 2022. Double congratulations to Alex for such an Outstanding effort!
Also double congratulations to Cath Walker, another Young Floodplain Manager, who won one of the Harold Sternbeck Highly Commended Awards and so also qualifies for YFM Highly Commended Presenter as well.
These two prestigious competitions are held at the FMA Annual Conference to encourage excellence across all aspects of a Conference presentation. Both 10 minute and 20 minute presentations are included. This year there was a total of 63 presentations.
The Harold Sternbeck Medal is awarded in recognition of Harold Sternbeck's contribution to FMA. Harold was a former Chairman of FMA and FMA's first Life Member. He was a fierce negotiator on all things flood related, especially the politics of funding allocations.
The FMA Young Floodplain Managers (YFM) network exists to represent, engage, and inspire young floodplain management professionals across Australia to share new ideas and engage in industry discussions.
In addition to the formal awards, we would also like to congratulate the following presenters, who were also ranked very highly by the judges (in alphabetical order by name):
Mark Babister (WMAwater) — What is an acceptable impact?
Philip Conway (IAG) — Quantifying residual risk beyond the 1% AEP event with climate change
Ed Henty (Dryside Engineering) — Flood Resilience for Floodplain Towns – The Moree Experience
Raymond Laine (NSW Dept of Planning and Environment) — Opening that ICOLL: Are we managing flood risk? Ray is also a Young Floodplain Manager.
Dan Rodger (JBPacific) — Development of Northern NSW Flood Mapping Using Lessons From Flood Insurers.
Rhys Thomson (Rhelm) — Modern and traditional data capture for flood model validation: Hawkesbury-Nepean insights.
Stephen Yeo (Infrastructure NSW) — Overview of the March 2021 Hawkesbury-Nepean flood: characteristics, impacts, learnings.
Once again, congratulations to our winners for the great contributions they have made to the success of the 2022 FMA National Conference.
MEDIA RELEASE: FMA LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THE NEW GOVERNMENT TO REDUCE FLOOD LOSSES
Floodplain Management Australia (FMA) President Ian Dinham has welcomed the appointment of the Albanese ministry and looks forward to working with the new Commonwealth Government to better manage the enormous flood risks which too many communities face.
Mr. Dinham said the flooding which has devastated so much of eastern Australia over recent months clearly demonstrates the need to move ahead quickly with Labor's Disaster Ready plan, investing in disaster prevention projects like flood levees and telecommunications improvements.
"The announcement in February by then Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese and Senator Murray Watt that Labor will spend up to $200 million per year for disaster prevention and resilience was welcomed.
"It is consistent with the recommendation of the 2014 Productivity Commission Report on Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements that the Commonwealth Government invests $200 million a year to begin reducing the cost of natural disasters. This needs to be matched by the states and territories to help bring the escalating costs of natural disasters under control.
"With inquiries into these flood events underway there will be no shortage of proposals to repair, raise, replace and relocate flooded houses and businesses, to provide appropriate flood levees, and to plan for new communities to be out of flood reach.
"All of these will require substantial investments, but the future savings in lives, and property and infrastructure losses will be enormous."
Mr. Dinham said FMA also welcomed Labor's commitment to cut red tape so disaster funding can get out the door faster, and to improve the efficiency of the disaster recovery process.
Read more releases online at floods.asn.au/releases
FMA PROVIDES EVIDENCE TO NSW FLOOD INQUIRY
Members would recall that FMA provided a submission the Select Committee Inquiry on the Response to Major Flooding across NSW in May. FMA was then invited to nominate a representative to provide evidence at a public hearing, and FMA Technical Director Danny Rose addressed the Committee by videoconference on 14 June.
Mr Rose's opening address covered four main issues:
the flooding was within the realms of probability based on existing flood studies
we need to urgently implement the findings of the 2014 Productivity Commission Inquiry into Natural Disaster Funding Arrangements to correct the funding paradigm of 3% on studies and mitigation works and 97% on recovery
councils need significant technical and financial support to implement and manage engineering and land use measures
FMA has long advocated for stronger links between floodplain management and land use planning schemes.
Subsequent questions referred to these points and related matters including consideration of climate change and the impact of new development in flood prone areas.
The Committee is required to deliver its report by 9 August.
The latest FMA Webinar Series will launch next week on Thursday 7th July in the Members' Section of floods.asn.au exclusively to current FMA Members.
The presentations will feature some of the most popular presentations from our Conference program with access available to each webinar for two weeks.
If you aren't an FMA Member yet and would like to join our nation-wide network of flood professionals, visit floods.asn.au/membership for more information.
If you are an FMA Member but have not registered for the Members' Section yet, contact projectservices@floods.asn.au to get access now.
YFM DOCUMENTARY AND WEBINARS
The Young Floodplain Managers network have put together a feature length documentary of their tour undertaken in Brisbane in 2021. If you were unable to attend the tour, this documentary is not to be missed.
Join the QLD YFM on a walking and ferry tour of the Brisbane River and learn how Brisbane River flood events have changed people's lives and shaped the FRM industry. Starting at Guyatt Park and ending at Bulimba, you can listen to several floodplain professionals and historians tell the story of Brisbane River, including remembering the 2011 flood event.
To access the documentary, you'll need access to the FMA Members' Section. You can find it under YFM Recordings.
While you're there, take a minute to view the YFM 2022 Joint Webinar International Careers and Floodplain Management. This webinar was a great opportunity for those interested in understanding differences and similarities in floodplain risk management overseas, and the amazing career opportunities available in the different geographies.
Joining the YFM were Barry Rodgers (BMT) and Chris Huxley (BMT), who discussed their global experiences working in the floodplain management industries in the UK, USA and Australia. The event also incorporated a networking element - a great avenue to meet your peers, discuss key learnings, and brainstorm questions for the panel guests.
NZ RIVERS GROUP CONFERENCE 9-11 NOVEMBER
New Zealand colleague Sharyn Westlake, from Greater Wellington Regional Council, has provided details of the upcoming Rivers Group Conference to be held at Wellington, from 9 to 11 November.
The conference theme is Making Room for Rivers. With climate change predicted to bring more extreme floods and changing community values, there is pressure on river managers to look for alternative methods when providing more integrated catchment management.
One such aspect is making room for rivers. The conference will explore how to make this concept a reality through a series of invited speakers to discuss examples from around the globe, as well as from NZ.
New Zealanders have regularly presented at FMA Conferences, so let's return the favour and support the Rivers Group Conference!
Details are at: https://www.riversconference2021.co.nz/
HEXHAM SWAMP REHABILITATION ON YOUTUBE
Over the years there have been several Conference presentations about the Hexham Swamp Rehabilitation Project, which involved opening floodgates to reinstate tidal flow from the Hunter River to valuable estuarine wetlands.
Hexham Swamp is located near Newcastle and covers a vast area of almost 2000 ha. The swamp supports a range of wetland types including mangroves and saltmarsh – an endangered ecological community.
In the early 1970s floodgates were installed on Ironbark Creek as part of the Lower Hunter Flood Mitigation Scheme, to prevent floodwater from the Hunter River entering the swamp.
However, the floodgates were permanently shut to eliminate tidal flows and the negative environmental impacts became evident almost immediately, with notable reductions in fish, prawns and birds due to changes in water quality and vegetation communities.
In response to increasing concern from the community and fishing industry, the rehabilitation project was proposed, and after 12 years of planning, research and stakeholder consultation, the project was approved in 2006. The gates were progressively opened from 2008 to 2013, in four stages, to gradually re-introduce saltwater tidal flows from the Hunter River.
Environmental monitoring continues today, managed by FMA Member Hunter Local Land Services (HLLS) in accordance with NSW state government requirements. The most recent surveys of vegetation communities and mosquitoes were conducted in 2020-21, and seasonal sampling of fish and crustaceans, and creekbank condition assessments were conducted in 2021-22. Results showed estuarine habitat has improved and continues to develop and increase in area.
HLLS has produced a Youtube video on progress of the rehabilitation, it includes great drone footage showing the mosaic of habitats forming from an aerial view.
View the Youtube clip here and subscribe to Hunter Local Land Services channel for more project updates - https://youtu.be/Jp1Yso5EKDk
For more information call Hunter Local Land Services 1300 795 299 or visit the website - www.lls.nsw.gov.au/regions/hunter
START-UP SEEKING PARTNERS TO PARTICIPATE IN FLOOD TOOL PILOT
The following information has been provided by Schematic Intelligence, which is not an FMA Member. Whilst we do not have a position on their product, this could be something of interest to Members.
Hi FMA Members,
We are Schematic Intel; a team of three co-founders based in Melbourne and Canberra who built a tool to help our emergency services heroes respond to flood events.
The first tool is interactive schematics with live data for flood emergency management services. Users can create, access, collect, and share live and interactive intelligence from external systems all in one location. It's a one shop stop flood emergency services tool.
What a great tool this would be for briefing requirements and training exercises. People can quickly understand situations and make safe decisions to prepare communities and save lives.
We are seeking organisations and partners who would like to participate in a paid pilot.
For your interest, we developed a free tool for the Lismore City Council during the height of their floods. Have a look at the different data access points on the Lismore riverine catchment schematic (best viewed on a computer): https://lnkd.in/g-PGQuSv
To learn more get in contact with us. Thank you.
Romeo Gaubert - Co Founder Schematic Intel, Emergency Management expert, and Head of Product
www.schematicintel.com
E: contact@schematicintel.com
Ph: 04 011 65 774
LinkedIn: Schematic Intel
During the FMA Conference in Toowoomba, professional photographer Peter Sechi took thousands of photographs of the networking events, session presentations and trade displays.
If you would like to flick through these photos, and download images that are relevant to you please follow the below link:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/7bglf64an8xdy5i/AABdeU1DkoRiiN1hUbbpzLJna?dl=0
The next meetings of Floodplain Management Australia are:
Queensland Chapter Meeting and Workshop
Wednesday 17 August 2022 at Brisbane
NSW/ACT Chapter Meeting and Workshop
Thursday 25 August 2022 at Sydney
We encourage you to attend to make the most of the networking opportunities and to get the latest updates from State agencies and Members, including the Bureau of Meteorology, Queensland Reconstruction Authority, Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, State Emergency Service and Insurance Council of Australia.
Attendance of the meetings is free, however we ask that you RSVP to Dominique Jovanovic as soon as is convenient at projectservices@floods.asn.au.
Business Papers will be circulated before the meetings.
MONTHLY YFM FEATURE
The YFM has been busy hosting professional development events this month, with a webinar on IFDs hosted by YFM VIC, and a virtual networking and webinar event focused on Disaster Management careers by YFM QLD. Both webinars will be made available to FMA Members via the members portal in the near future.
Looking forward, the YFM NSW group is busy preparing a Flood Tour for those based in Sydney - more information to come soon.
Remember to follow YFM on linkedin, and join our membership list, to be notified about upcoming events!
DO YOU HAVE NEWS?
The FMA Flyer reaches a wide range of industry professionals from Australia and overseas, and if you have any recent projects or exciting news we would love to share it with our readers.
Send through details of your stories and we can include them in our upcoming issues by contacting projectservices@floods.asn.au.
UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
FMA Queensland Chapter Meeting, Brisbane, 17 August 2022
FMA NSW/ACT Chapter Meeting, Sydney, 25 August 2022
Tweed Shire Council
Project Manager - Flood Restoration
Supervisor - Flood Restoration
Northern Beaches Council
Team Leader, Stormwater Design and Delivery
If you are interested in promoting a vacant position with us, please contact us.
Please remember that while we circulate Vacant Positions in this monthly Flyer, sometimes position closing deadlines don't align with the time of its distribution. Make sure you head to floods.asn.au/jobs to check for Vacant Positions that may not be listed here due to shorter closing dates.
TRAVELLING CAPS AND BEANIES
This year at the Toowoomba Conference we gave out a bunch of fabulous FMA bucket hats - we want to see how they look! Send us your photos!
Visit the FMA website FLOODS.ASN.AU
Get information on FMA MEMBERSHIP HERE
Got this forwarded to you? SUBSCRIBE HERE