Towards better flood warnings

Keys, C. (1994) presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the NSW Flood Mitigation Authorities, Inverell

This paper reports on current initiatives designed to improve the quality of the flood warning process in New South Wales (NSW). Flood warning practice has evolved, Topsy-like and not always with clear direction, over a period of several decades, and various aspects of it are clearly in need of discipline. A manual of 'best practice' with regard to flood warnings is being prepared and is intended to guide the future development of the flood warning process in Australia in the future.

The earliest flood warning 'systems' in NSW grew out of local community needs, information on rising creek and river levels simply being passed down river valleys from person to person and town to town. Over time, these local efforts were augmented in various ways. The most important elaborations were the addition of scientific inputs (notably hydrologic modelling introduced by the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM)), and the implementation of formal procedures to ensure that river-height predictions were disseminated to the community via radio stations. Other means of dissemination, including doorknocking and the use of telephones and two-way radios, were used on occasions at the local level to ensure that the warnings actually got to those who were about to be affected by flood waters.

Modern flood warning practice is complex and multi-faceted. It involves the prediction of flood heights (which requires considerable investment in the mechanical, technological and computing realms) as well as determining where the flood waters will go at the heights anticipated. Getting the warnings disseminated in ways that are understood in the community and can be acted upon appropriately requires considerable expertise in message construction and the effective use of a range of methods of message delivery.

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