Planning for the Inevitable - Emergency Planning for Floods in New South Wales

Gissing, A., Morgan M. and Ronan C. (2007) Planning for the Inevitable - Emergency Planning for Floods in New South Wales. Proceedings of the 47th Floodplain Management Conference, Gunnedah.

The New South Wales (NSW) State Emergency Service (SES) is the legislated combat agency for floods in NSW meaning it is the government agency responsible for controlling the response to flood emergencies within the state. The combat role is comprehensive encompassing emergency risk management, community education, emergency planning and flood response.

Emergency planning refers to the preparation of community based plans of action in accordance with NSW emergency management legislation. SES emergency plans for flooding contain arrangements dealing with the preparation for, response to and the initiation of recovery from floods and their asociated hazards. Plans deal with all magnitudes of flooding including riverine flooding, flash flooding, tsunami, coastal erosion / oceanic inundation and flooding resulting as a consequence of dam failure.

This paper discusses the SES emergency planning process and looks at SES experiences in community based emergency planning, reinforcing the important partnership between the SES, local communities and local government in conducting emergency planning.

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