In 2007 south-east Queensland households were mailed a shower timer, part of a campaign to promote water conservation. The prolonged effects of the 2001-2009 ‘Millennium Drought’ meant that water levels at the region’s main supply dams were a topic of everyday conversation.

Three years later Australia moved into a La Niña weather pattern. By the end of 2010 Queensland was experiencing a record-breaking wet period; by early January 2011 nearly 80% of the State was flooded and disaster-declared.

In Brisbane, nearly 500mm of rain fell in December 2010, three times the recorded average for the month. On January 10th, Toowoomba was deluged by fast-rising flash flooding - the so-called ‘inland tsunami’ - after 90mm of rain fell over the city in an hour. The flood surge moved rapidly downstream into the Lockyer Valley, washing away livestock, structures, and people as it swept through the towns of Murphy’s Creek and Grantham.

For the next two days continued intense rainfall dropped some 700mm over the already saturated Brisbane River catchment. Water from the Bremer River and Lockyer Creek flowed into the Brisbane River and headed towards the capital city. By the time it arrived the rain had stopped, but then Premier, Anna Bligh, warned residents to “take no comfort from that blue sky.”

Thirty-three human lives were lost during the 2010/2011 floods, and across the State 29,000 homes and business experienced some form of inundation. The Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) estimated the cost of the flooding events to be more than $5 billion, and a 12-month long inquiry released 177 recommendations.

With the 10-year anniversary approaching, I was commissioned by Foreground to reflect on the planning and urban design responses to the floods.

The story is available here.

Much interesting information didn’t make the cut, so I’ve collected some of it here:

Flood of Ideas
Flood of Ideas, an initiative of the Water by Design program at Healthy Waterways, received around 500 submissions, including building designs, infrastructure improvements and planning strategies to enable Brisbane to plan for and respond to future flooding. These were posted to a public website, then exhibited at the State Library of Queensland in 2012.

West End Green Space Strategy
The Green Space Strategy for West End, Highgate Hill and South Brisbane was developed by Alvin Kirby, Michelle Kirby-Brown, Gavin Hardy and John Mongard in consultation with the local community.

Flood Community of Practice
A knowledge-sharing partnership with members from engineering, built environment, local government, and insurance backgrounds. The Flood CoP runs regular events and workshops exploring flood resilience.