South East Qld. Flood Warning Roadmap

Climate Resilience was engaged by the Bureau of Meteorology to provide advice and strategic input to the Bureau expert team tasked with putting together a business case for a new flood warning system for South East Queensland.

Climate Resilience put together the system architecture, reviewed current systems from the USA, Japan, Taiwan, and the UK, for best fit with Australian systems and culture, and collaborated to deliver a project roadmap and business case for SEQ that could also form a future framework for all Australian States and key agencies, such as NEMA.

The project was delivered in late 2023 and provides for a modular, integrated approach for implementing extent based warning, and event likelihood information for two separate audiences – emergency managers, and the general public. This will represent a seismic shift in flood warning in Australia, a system largely unchanged from federation.

The plan objective is to ensure those impacted by a potential flood receive an SMS warning and that this would be seamless between flash and riverine flood drivers, providing unambiguous clarity.