Okay.
So what have we done?
We've done, gone, worked
with the Department of
Natural Resources, locked
up around 35 cartographers
in a room for six months,
and got them in there and
went through
the whole state.
And we've now actually
mapped every floodplain
that there is
in the state.
And what's
more, it's free.
You can get access
to it on our website.
You can zoom in.
And basically, the map
that's down here on the
right, you can get down
to that level of detail,
and then you can go
down to the next level of
detail and have
a look at it.
We've made it all
available to all local
governments, and
we're getting around,
handing it all
out to them.
There's obviously more
detail flood modelling
around towns, but what
this does is actually
stitch together the
one single platform.
Historically, the flood
mapping that was done
between the
jurisdictional boundaries,
you'd end up with this
sort of stark difference,
because of the
different model idea,
so theoretically the water
came and then dropped half
a metre, because of
the different model.
What we've done is set a
single platform of model
across the whole state.
And then from there, the
more detailed models get built.
So what we also did was
use that same foundation
information to be
used at St. George.
So I'm on the State Disaster
Management Committee.
The local disaster
management committee is
happening on the ground.
And basically, the bomb
we're coming up with these
predictions the same.
We think it
could be 14 metres.
And a couple
of days later,
the flows were
coming down similar.
It could be up
to 15 metres,
then settle on about
14-and-a-half and whatever.
Now if you know flooding,
it's not just a horizontal plain.
Floodwaters
actually move on a slope.
They move with the
terrain of the river.
All we have to do is
stitch together a map that
sort of gave an indication
of what the impact was
likely to be
in St. George.
So down the bottom here,
you can see the red circle.
That tells you the height
that it was predicted at.
That's, you can
see it there,
the AHD figure
there as well.
So 14.2 was the
early prediction.
So you look at
that and you go,
well, we wouldn't evacuate
St. George in that
instance, would we?
Okay.
Then the prediction
went up a bit to 14.5.
Mmm, that's not
looking real flush,
but we probably could
stay on the high ground.
Then the prediction came and
it was gonna be 15 metres.
Time to evacuate.
Okay?
Where did it end up?
It ended up
around about 14.
Okay?
So fortunately, most of
the town wasn't stuffed.
But the prediction was
it could get to this.
And because the floodplain
is so flat there,
it was difficult to
tell how much water was
actually gonna come in
before it broke out.
But what we're, what I
guess I'm pointing out is
we have a flood mapping
tool here which could then
be used in application.
I was presenting these
maps in conjunction with
the bomb stuff at the
State Disaster Management
Committee, and they're all
to make real-time decisions.
Pointless producing this
three months after the event.
We want it
during the event.
What's another
thing we're doing?
We've called this system,
called DARM--Damage
Assessment &
Reconstruction Monitoring.
Essentially, this
again a similar thing.
Well, once the
damage happens,
first thing you
wanna know is well,
how much, what's
the severity of it,
what's the nature of it?
The classic thing we found
in the Brisbane floods is,
you can look at an
aerial photograph.
You can see how many
houses were impacted.
But how many of them were
Queensland just like I
described before?
How many of them have
actually had water inside
the house?
Okay?
I'll show you in a minute
some stuff we did there.
So what we did is this.
Using off the shelf GPS
technology--but modifying
the program that went into
it--allows us to go around
and, and identify,
well where is the impact,
what's the
nature of the impact?
And using
building surveyors,
looking at it, and then being
able to do a rapid feedback.
Now we got our stuff
for the Brisbane stuff,
you know, we started a
couple of months after,
obviously before
we got started.
But we were ready to
go for this event.
And so for this event,
we were actually
raring to get out there.
I had some of my guys
driving around on the back
of fire trucks in Mitchell
as the water was going
down, taking the shots and
feeding it back to me via
Wi-Fi in real-time,
feeding it into the State
Disaster Centre.
We we're saying, "As
of one o'clock this
afternoon, there were
250 houses that have been
identified as severely
impacted." So this is
Rocklea in Brisbane.
Okay?
So Rocklea is a
suburb, it's a sort of an
industrial suburb with
a bit of residential.
You can see there, the
green being no damage,
minor damage--which is
effectively water inside
the house, but
not, you know,
go around without
the skirting boards.
Moderate damage is,
once assessed,
it could mean for
light switches and above,
you know,
kitchen cabinets.
And severe damage is
above the light switches,
and totalled the houses
in a day completely.
Okay.
So you can see Rocklea
was pretty badly impacted.
That was done in October.
Then, no, I think...
Man [off camera]: Sorry?
Go back.
Yes, so that
was done in July.
We went back, we go back
every quarter to track how
things are going.
Because again, what we're
trying to work out is
well, how is the place progressing
and who needs help?
Where does the Department
of Community Centre go to?
So we went
back in October.
You can see the
difference there.
Look how much
grain has popped up.
But we've identified
those couple of red ones,
a couple of
the yellow ones.
And that's where we've
targeted the Department of
Community's people in.
So it's about trying
to rapidly get the,
get the stuff happening.
I went over to the States.
I went to New Orleans
and saw some of the stuff.
They're really only just
starting to get to this,
six years after the event.
Okay?
I came back and
thought, "Geez,
we have 12,000
houses affected,
they have 200,000
houses affected.
If we can't do 12,000
houses effectively and
more efficiently, then we're
not trying hard enough."
And that's what we've done here.
So we did Brisbane.
So this is where
it actually stands.
I did this--I'm sorry
about the resolution
there--but
this is February.
So you can see there,
basically the suburb is up
and going and fixed up,
but there's a couple of
ones that stand out.
We can go to the council,
get the ownership details
around the, around
those properties.
These are their principal
place of residence.
They're the ones we
were worried about.
Or is it a
rental property?
Those sorts of things.
So we can get down the
full details and find out
the actual story first.
That's very sensitive.
Okay.
So this is basically
tracking the change.
You can see those
colours are the same ones.
You can see
Brisbane to the left.
Again, the
scales are different.
But you can see
Brisbane to the left.
So in July, pretty bad,
but a rapid improvement
from there.
You can see Ipswich.
Pretty bad.
An improvement, but
probably not in the same
scale as Brisbane.
And then up in the
Cyclone Yasi areas there,
you can see the changes.
So we know exactly
where they are and target,
and can target
the resources.
But also when the, when
the question gets asked,
well how are things going?
Up in Yasi, we also
had the tops on roofs,
because that's the visual
thing that the media loved
to pick up, like how
many tops are on roofs?
Well, we knew the numbers down
to the actual street address.
We can go and pinpoint
what the issue was.
Okay, this is Roma 2012.
So this is one we just
did this time around.
So you can see, this
information was fed
straight in.
You can see the,
the black sort of Xs,
these ones here.
As the guys went around,
they actually took shots
on the flood line as well.
So we can marry that
up with the aerial
photography and join
up the flood mapping.
You gotta get out there
though pretty much after,
straight after the event,
or while it's just about
to drop off, so you
can grab accurate data.
We've given, we convert
these to street addresses,
give it to
Department of Communities.
They overlay
their at-risk people,
work out who's the
most vulnerable,
you know,
wheelchair-bound people,
people with
disabilities or whatever.
They go and target those,
and then they go and
follow on
through the others.
They go and
knock on the doors.
So rather than just
setting up a disaster
centre and waiting
for people to come,
actually go out and
chase after these people.
Okay.
So this is the data we
got over Western floods.
And you can see there,
Roma and Mitchell clearly
the worst hit.
St. George and
Charleville,
look at those two there.
Now, population
wise, Roma and Mitchell,
St. George,
Charleville--Ray,
it's your territory, mate.
Or part of it there.
Not a lot of difference.
What's the big difference though
between those four towns?
Two of them have levees,
and two of them don't.
Okay?
So Roma and Mitchell
don't have levees,
Charleville and
St. George do.
Okay?
So that gives you an idea
of the scale of damage.
Now that's not a direct
correlation of the size of
the flood, but it also
starts telling you how
quickly is Charleville and
St. George gonna get back
on their feet
compared to the other two.
Okay.
So this is Charleville.
And the line that I've
drawn on there--rather
haphazardly--is the
line of the levee.
And you can see on that
side is where the water
actually came to.
On this side is a computer
model on where it would
have gone to, had the
levee not been there.
Big difference.
And then, over here,
probably zooming it in the
reel, what it
actually means.
You can see those houses
on the other side compared
to these ones here.
Okay.
On to another one.
Grantham.
You would have
heard about Grantham.
Basically, Grantham
copped a fair whack
with the flash
flood down there.
19 people killed,
because it just came down,
down the
stream so quickly.
Essentially what we did
there was use the powers
of the Authority to declare
a reconstruction area.
Go through a
planning scheme exercise.
Complying with all of
the sort of rules and so
forth, but doing in
an accelerated time.
Within three and
a half months,
we approved what
would have been,
taken about three and a
half years to get through.
What that did is it gave
that community absolute
certainty that they had a choice
to get out of the floodplain.
They were paranoid about
living in that floodplain.
They were concerned about
another flash flood coming through.
They were concerned about
the children being upset.
They were concerned
about property values.
All those sorts of things.
We worked with
the council.
Took what was a cattle
property and converted it
into a subdivision.
It's up on high ground.
And it's
looking fantastic.
I've got an image there of
a house being hauled in.
So they had the choice
of, they did a land swap.
Had a choice of bringing
their own house up or
building a new
one up there.
And in many cases, they're
actually realising it's
cheaper to
build a new one.
They either got money from
the Premier's Disaster
Relief Fund or
insurance or whatever,
and they're able to
get in and do it.
The land effectively
cost them nothing.
The utilities
are all there.
And we also gave them
a grant of $35,000
to be able to connect into those utilities.
Okay?
So that was the nature.
It's going very well.
Now I'm just gonna do the
happy snaps that I talked about.
This is Cunninghams
Gap, which is basically
Toowoomba range crossing.
That's what it
looks like now.
Bananas.
Now.
Rail.
This is Milpera
State School,
which was one of the
schools that got flooded
in Brisbane South.
Operational again.
Spring Bluff Railway.
So this is just west of,
southwest of Brisbane,
which is one of the, it's,
basically all the coal
from the southwest comes
through this way out to
the Port of Brisbane.
Rockhampton Airport.
Toowoomba.
This is
Cardwell foreshore.
This is what it
looked like after.
Open now.
Mundubbera, which is
in the sort of north,
north of
probably South Central.
And this is
Cardwell again.
Okay.
So as you can see, that's
a quick run through.
There's an awful lot
of stuff going on.
Go to our website.
There's just heaps and
heaps of content there.
So if you're interested
in any of those little
aspects, dive in.
But by all means, anybody
who wants to make contact
with the Authority to find
out more about anything,
please feel free.
Don't feel like you've gotta
just rely on the website.
I've got a good team
of people who are very
motivated, drawn from
13 different government
agencies, into
a central pool,
and they're
operating very well.
So I'd have to commend
the model to anyone.
Key, most important
thing--legislative power
and money.
Once you've got those two,
you can make a big difference.
00:11:52.250,00:00:00.000
Thank you.
