Towards best practice in floodplain management

Haines, R. (1996) presented at the 36th Annual Conference of the Floodplain Management Authorities of NSW, Grafton

Best practice in the field of Floodplain Management in New South Wales (NSW) is currently recorded in the 1986 Floodplain Development Manual. In many ways this was a document ahead of its time. It is fair to say that floodplain management was initially the preserve of engineers and relied heavily on structural mitigation measures. As it developed, it also took into account planning and zoning measures primarily aimed at mitigation in future developments. By the time the Floodplain Development Manual was produced, its authors quite clearly saw the need for a third group of measures to be brought into play - they were emergency management measures such as warning systems, evacuation arrangements and various forms of contingency planning. At that stage though it was also fair to say that emergency managers were not leading this movement.

Over the last six years the State Emergency Service (SES) in NSW has developed significant expertise in the field of flood planning. It has also developed a relatively more sophisticated understanding of how it can contribute to an integrated system of floodplain management and what 'best practice' in this field might be. This paper will suggest what best practice might be from an emergency manager's perspective and how it should assist communities prepare for their next flood event.

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