MITIGATING FLOOD

Mitigation of flood related damages to physical infrastructure in Brisbane via Engineering and Surveying solutions

Mitigation of flood related damages to physical infrastructure in Brisbane via Engineering and Surveying solutions

Introduction

This paper intends to explore the impact of flood on the infrastructure of Brisbane. Brisbane is the capital of Queensland, in the north-east of Australia, and has about 2 million inhabitants. The main focus of this paper is to come up with the mitigation solutions related to the damage to physical infrastructure in Brisbane, in terms of engineering. Further, it also discusses that how people should be warned of the upcoming emergency flood risk in the region without getting them panic.

Recently, in 2011 the rainfall that hit the region for several weeks have caused flooding and overflowing rivers over a vast territory. The flooding was caused by tropical cyclone Tasha, which took over the north-east Queensland. Many villages and cities, including Brisbane, which is the third largest city in Australia with its 2 million people, were severely affected. Further, it caused blocked roads, closed airports, suspended rail traffic and disrupted port activity. In short, the whole region was paralyzed for weeks because of flooding. Queensland is Australia's arid regions. The last major flood in Brisbane was in 1974, however, in 2010-2011 the rain continued for more than two months. As a result, more than 18,000 elements in Brisbane homes were destroyed or flooded. More than 120,000 homes were without power for several days, citizens in certain areas of the city were completely isolated in their homes.

This natural disaster has damaged the Australian economy and the most affected area was the mining sector. In Queensland most of the mines were flooded and they had to wait for at least six weeks to resume mining. According to preliminary estimates, the flood would then amputate at least 15 million tons annual exports of coal in Australia.

Discussion

Flooding occurs when the there is spout of water from the reservoir or pond is formed by breaking waterfront structures (dams etc.) or by accidental discharge of water from the reservoir, as well as the breakout of the natural dam created by the act of nature, such as earthquakes, landslides, glacier movement.

Predicting the phenomenon of flooding is possible through proper monitoring, forecasting, and application of simulation models. However, this is a very general statement that such a phenomenon is impossible to predict. Usually, it is difficult to determine some elements regarding flood, such as nature of the flood, the duration, the actual water levels in floodplains and other parameters. It is, however, possible to determine a number of factors inherent to flooding and for that purpose, government of Australia have taken initiatives.

However, the government has taken appropriate measures and has developed a monitoring system. A monitoring system is connected with the centers of weather, which provides a real-time control and warning of risks regarding hydrogeological in Brisbane. There has been a collaboration agreement that will allow for a flow of accurate and scientifically sound ...