IGEM Report Supported by Queensland Government
30th October 2022
In March the Queensland Premier announced that the Office of the Inspector-General of Emergency Management will undertake a review of the South East Queensland rainfall and flooding event in February-March 2022.
The issues to be covered by the review include:
- The effectiveness of preparedness activities undertaken by relevant local government agencies, and other agencies engaged in response operations in the Local Government Areas activated for Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.
- The timing and effectiveness of Emergency Alerts that were issued to warn the general community of the flooding event
- The effectiveness of cooperation between all agencies engaged in response operations.
Read more at statements.qld.gov.au/statements/96309.
The report of the review was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday 12 October 2022. It found that Wivenhoe Dam was well managed, however there were some isolated examples of delays in Local Disaster Management Groups’ requests for Emergency Alerts.
The review made 19 recommendations which cover a range of areas of focus including:
- adding and/or clarifying existing guidance regarding flood risk and the use of the Emergency Alert system by responsible agencies;
- identifying options for strengthening the flood warning network;
- providing additional instructional support, training and exercising for users of the Emergency Alert system;
- use of the Australian Warning System for all nationally agreed hazards, supported by a community education program;
- increasing subscriptions to Local Government opt-in information services;
- assessing interagency information system operability;
- reviewing deployment protocols and information capture and
- reviewing emergency procedures for referable dams.
In response to this report a panel of experts will explore flood forecasting approaches at the FMA Workshop on 9 November in Brisbane, following the Quarterly Meeting. More details elsewhere in this Flyer.
