Checking the depth of flood work
Draft flood studies for the Sandy Creek, Rocky Dam Creek (Koumala) and Funnel Creek (Sarina Range) catchments have been examined by the branch to ensure they are as rigorous as possible.
The Institute’s submission requested that council delay putting the three flood studies up for adoption before updated, ‘ground truthed’ LIDAR and feature survey information that can be incorporated into the base models.
Improvement was considered necessary to avoid uncertainty for some residents within the study areas that could increase insurance premiums and would undermine the public’s confidence in the relevance of these types of engineering studies.
Particular concerns with the studies included the need for additional information around:
- base contour and/or rain gauge information
- culvert, bridges pit and pipe locations and details
- the effect of the extent of cane laying over that thus reduces the impedance of floodplain flows, data should be obtained on this hydraulic roughness.
The Institute submission is available here.
Further information is available from Policy Manager, Martin Zaltron.