CONCLUSION Adapting to climate change to manage flood risk is a new reality for urban planners and civic managers. In order to inform funding priorities to ensure the right LGAs have resource to respond effectively, this report is to identify flood prone areas within the Greater Melbourne region, and the risks and vulnerabilities.
The study has been conducted using geospatial analysis and underpinned by contemporary research and their application to selection of variables and their weightings to deliver a visualisation, delivering a key artefact for disaster management planning. For deeper analysis, our recommendations extend to the following subsequent actions, acknowledging the limitations of the study: ●
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Data inadequacies - flood hazard assessment is based on data of differing time scales. The overlay is temporally compromised. A finer grade of analysis would be determined by sample data sets of these variables, overlayed to the current data sets with a higher weighting. Rainfall history and climate data has not been used due to the limited variation of these results anticipated across such a small study area, and the focus on sea level rise. However, rainfall can be compelling to offer more precise modelling on surface runoff impacts, combined with the threat of rising waters. Weightings for the overlay analysis and raster calculations have been based on interpretation of literature and should be read as indicative only, as with all data models. More precise modelling may be applied with regression analysis Resolution of rasters were uniformly applied at size 50. Higher resolution would more finely tune the result. Hydrology calculations depend upon precision of the topographic maps and DEM data. Difference in scale of maps can simplify the results, thus an investment in higher quality datasets may offer greater precision, albeit a cost-benefit analysis would drive the decision, to right-size the precision required for such an outcome. Economic impacts can be sized by categorising and weighting critical infrastructure, delivering finer granularity for cost-benefit planning
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