Planning for floods in NSW

Keys, C. (1995-96) The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 10 (4), 27-32

Six years ago, the State Emergency Service (SES) in New South Wales (NSW) was subject to a process of review. Like most such exercises, the review found the organisation had some strengths and some weaknesses - but it was the weaknesses which drew most of the attention. In particular the evaluation was severely critical of the lack of planning that had been done to prepare the organisation and the community for floods. The SES had been responsible for the management of floods since its inception in 1955, but only a few flood plans had been prepared and no formal program to create a comprehensive body of plans was in evidence.

Since the review, and the organisational restructuring which it helped bring about, a major planning project has been under way in NSW and this project has now produced a flood plan for almost every council area in the state which can be said to have a riverine or lacustrine flood problem. Moreover, efforts are being made to ensure that these plans are kept alive and useful to emergency managers and that they are known about and understood in the communities in whose interests they have been prepared.

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