EnviroMatters-Spring-Summer-2020_

90 %

Main image: Railway platforms during flood, Ipswich, 2011 (source: Picture Ipswich) Inset image: Redbank recreational wetlands

of Ipswich people felt responsible for their own safety in a flood (Managing Future Floods survey 2019)

Flooding: our past and our future In January 2011, disaster areas were declared across 78 per cent of Queensland and Ipswich experienced its third largest flood on record. What has changed to improve community safety and build resilience?

Since 2011 there has been the construction of: a flood levee at Thagoona

Lockyer Valley local governments conducted the most comprehensive flood study in Australia. The Brisbane River Strategic Floodplain Management Plan is a long-term plan to manage future floods and improve community safety and resilience. Ipswich City Council is developing the Ipswich Integrated Catchment Plan as part of their ongoing commitment to understanding and preparing for floods. Part of developing the Plan was the Managing Future Floods community engagement, with 190 responses from 51 Ipswich suburbs.

The 2011 flood in Ipswich was a combination of saturated catchments, prolonged and extensive rainfall, and high levels of backwater from the Brisbane River. The Bremer River city gauge at the David Trumpy Bridge reached 19.3m. Almost 10 years on, a significant amount of research and investment has occurred and planning continues for future flooding. In 2017, the Queensland Government in partnership with SEQwater and the Ipswich, Brisbane, Somerset and

improvements to the Rosewood detention basin the Limestone Park detention basin the Redbank recreational wetlands. The most important element in our readiness for future floods is how well the people of Ipswich, as individuals and as a community, understand our flood risk and prepare.

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