18 October, 2022
TRC prepared for seasonal forecasts; advising residents to take precautions
Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) is well prepared to respond, if and when required, to any situation across the Region in the light of ongoing forecasts for wet and stormy weather across most parts of Queensland, including southern Queensland.
Local Disaster Management Group (LDMG) chair, Mayor Paul Antonio said Council, and in turn the LDMG, would follow established procedures for disaster response and recovery if required.
“The LDMG will monitor advice and information that is issued from the State Disaster Coordination Centre and the Bureau of Meteorology,” Mayor Antonio said.
“Our top priority is to ensure residents are safe and informed about the potential dangers from any likely natural disasters, especially the potential dangers from storms, such as possible flood waters and high winds. It is better to err on the side of caution.
“We all have a role to play in ensuring that we are prepared for whatever nature throws at us. Residents are more aware of how quickly the situation can change when a storm hits. Following a wet year, the ground is saturated, which means significant rain is likely to runoff into waterways.”
TRC Water and Waste Committee chair Cr Rebecca Vonhoff said Council’s three dams had spillways and did not have gates that allowed water to be released in a controlled manner, such as at Wivenhoe Dam.
“Council has emergency action plans for the dams that are enacted if and when they are needed,” LDMG deputy chair Cr Vonhoff said.
“Cooby Dam is at 99.7% capacity. While it is inevitable that significant inflows to Cooby Dam will see water flowing over the spillway, the catchment area above Cooby Dam constitutes only 30% of the entire catchment area that impacts on Oakey in a flood.
“The 2011 flood peak in Oakey was largely caused by rainfall and runoff from the much larger catchment area below Cooby Dam.
“This highlights the importance of catchment-wide monitoring and our ability to use real-time rainfall and creek height data to inform our emergency planning and warnings.”
For dam storage figures and catchment rainfall, visit www.tr.qld.gov.au/water (Water sources, supply and storage levels)
TRC Infrastructure Services Committee chair Cr Carol Taylor said Council had been working to make the Region much more resilient in the past decade.
Cr Taylor said Council had raised the profile of flood risk management across the Region through proactively engaging and educating residents, industry groups, government agencies, community organisations and emergency services personnel on best practice flood risk management.
“Flood early warning systems, funded partly by the state government, are operating in Toowoomba and Oakey.
“The systems provide advance warning to help motorists and emergency services respond if creeks rise to dangerous levels and/or pose a threat to businesses and houses,” Cr Taylor said.
“The flood early warning system is based on a series of water height gauges which measure the rate of water level rise at various sites. Sites are located along East and West creeks in Toowoomba and along Cooby, Gorman, Doctor and Oakey creeks in the Oakey area.
“This information is relayed by radio from each remote site to a central server in Toowoomba, which will trigger alerts if flood levels are imminent. The system will then generate automatic notifications in the form of SMS alerts and emails.
“The forecast and real time data are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. (More detail is available on Council’s website)
“The Oakey flood early warning system will provide a warning time of approximately six hours before a flood event at Oakey. However, every rain event is different and the actual flood warning time will be dependent on rainfall intensity. The Oakey emergency siren will also operate if needed.
“The value of real-time access to vital information via Council’s Guardian Disaster Management System, that includes the Oakey flood camera, came to the fore during heavy rain and flooding events earlier this year.
“Despite all the mitigation measures, creeks and gullies will flood roadways at times and I stress the State Government’s message that, ‘If it’s flooded, forget it’. Please observe any warning signs and drive to the conditions.
“Apart from a massive reconstruction program and ongoing annual capital works, Council has been working on a range of complementary projects covering land use planning, flood studies and mapping, overland flow mapping and emergency management planning.
“While we can’t completely safeguard against extreme weather events, I’m confident that the Region has vastly improved infrastructure that will offer greater resilience to withstand future flooding and mitigate flood impacts.”
In a life-threatening emergency call 000 and for emergency flood or storm assistance, call the State Emergency Service on 132 500.
Listen to ABC Radio for relevant disaster information updates and warnings.
Advice about TRC road closures and other relevant details will be notified at disaster.tr.qld.gov.au/
