PRESIDENT’S REPORT Angela Fry
It’s been called a Rain Bomb and has in its wake, caused major destruction in Queensland’s capital. Caused by a combination of two consecutive La Niña weather systems, Brisbane had 611mm rain in the two days between Friday 9pm and Sunday 6pm – the highest two-day total since records began in 1840. The previous record was reached with the 1974 floods (600mm). The Wivenhoe dam gained approximately 1,450 billion litres of water in under three days – three Sydney Harbours worth of water according to Stuart Khan, an expert on water management at the University of New South Wales. Up to 15,000 homes were flooded with 1,544 people living in evacuation centres. 51,000 people were without power. Trains were cancelled, bus services limited, major roads were impassable, and the Bruce Highway closed at multiple locations. And that is just Brisbane - there is a similar
story of devastation and loss of life across southern Queensland and northern NSW. The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) has activated Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) for 22 Queensland councils in the south-east from the Gold Coast up the coast to Gladstone and North Burnett, and out to Goondiwindi and Western Downs. Now that the immediate protection of people and property has passed, it is for us to restore our communities and make them resilient however no local government authority or public works engineer could expect to mitigate against the rarity of two consecutive La Niña weather systems occurring within three days. We will have a lot to discuss when we gather this year at our regional and Annual conferences and I’m pleased to report that the CQ Branch conference in Gladstone, 16-17 March 2022 and the joint SWQ/SEQ Branch conference in Toowoomba, 30-31 March 2022 will proceed despite how busy, and exhausted our people will be. These are the times that we must get together
to share, learn, regroup and recharge. Jimmy Scott from QRA will be presenting in Toowoomba on Day 1, Wednesday 30 March at 10am, and Somerset Regional Council will also present on the marathon recovery program ahead expected to consume councils and resources for the next two years. Queensland is the most floodprone state in Australia, with flooding causing more damage in Queensland than any other natural hazard. Recent national research predicts Queensland’s disaster risk will continue to increase with total cost of natural disasters predicted to exceed $466 billion. The Queensland Treasurer has estimated $4 to $4.5 billion for the first flood event of 2022 alone which includes a $1 billion loss in economic activity. We’ll further discuss resilient infrastructure at the Asset Management Symposium, 20-21 April in Brisbane. And Jimmy Scott will present on flood warning infrastructure. In the meantime, don’t forget to take care of yourselves. Every community needs its engineers.
ENGINEERING FOR PUBLIC WORKS | MARCH 2022
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