Disaster Management
Prevention (Mitigation)
Disaster Mitigation
Although most disasters can’t be prevented, knowing the hazards and risks, learning from past events, and implementing mitigation measures can help minimise future impacts.
Council plays a major role in disaster mitigation activities, including:
- Road network upgrades (bridges, culverts, road sealing)
- Drainage works (creek clearing, upgrading infrastructure, non-return valves in low-lying coastal areas)
- Water and sewerage network improvements and redundancy options
- Foreshore protection activities (rock walls, erosion prevention)
- Installing more disaster resilient infrastructure in lower risk locations
- Educating the community about preparedness activities
Sever Thunderstorm/ Sever Weather Event
What is it?
Severe thunderstorm and severe weather warnings are issued by the Bureau of Meteorology. In active months, especially November to April, many of these warnings are issued for parts of the Flinders Shire area, often multiple times each day. Severe thunderstorms and severe weather rarely lead to the activation of the Flinders Disaster Management Group. Although these events can be dangerous, and it is important that the community is warned and aware of the risks and take the necessary precautions, they rarely result in a large-scale disaster event that requires a significant coordinated response and recovery effort.
What are the local risks?
Severe Thunderstorms
While the Flinders Shire Region experiences many thunderstorms, more intense thunderstorms are referred to as severe thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms can cause significant localised damage due to damaging wind gusts, large hail, tornadoes and flash flooding.
The Bureau of Meteorology issues Severe Thunderstorm Warnings to alert communities of the threat of these more dangerous thunderstorms.
Severe Weather
Severe weather warnings are provided for potentially hazardous or dangerous weather that is not solely related to severe thunderstorms, tropical cyclones or bushfires.
The Bureau of Meteorology issues severe weather warnings whenever severe weather is occurring in an area or is expected to develop or move into an area. The warnings describe the area under threat and the expected hazards. Warnings are issued with varying lead-times, depending on the weather situation, and range from just an hour or two up to about 24 hours.
Useful Links
Flood
What is it?
A flood occurs as a result of excess rainfall in a river, creek or storm water drainage catchment that exceeds the ability of the catchment to contain the rainfall in the natural or man-made water flow paths. Flooding can be minor such as road inundation, or moderate to major when houses become inundated or areas evacuated.
What are the local risks?
Some parts of The Flinders Shire Region has a high risk of being impacted by flooding primarily during the wet season which officially runs from 1 November to 30 April. Flooding may or may not be associated with cyclones or severe weather events and can occur at any time of the year.
Councils Natural Disaster Risk Management Report advises that flooding in the Flinders Shire Council Region can result from one or more of the following, which may occur in combination:
- Flooding in the catchments of the Upper Flinders River, this Starts at White Mountains and flows into Glendower then Glenmoan all running downstream of the Flinders River.
- Flash flooding following intense short period rainfall in smaller catchments such as Station Creek and Skull Creek, which creates localised flooding and running into the Flinders River upper catchment.
- In the case of flooding associated with tropical cyclones, flooding of low-lying areas on the north side of the Flinders River can happen when the Flinders River is at capacity and eventually breaks it banks behind the Hughenden Golf Club.
Useful Links
Dashboard - Flinders Shire Council
State Government QLD Roads website
Preparedness (Planning)
Get Ready Queensland
When it comes to extreme weather events in Queensland, it’s not so much a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. The more prepared our community is, the faster we will recover afterwards. The Queensland Government’s Get Ready Queensland website contains detailed information and fact sheets about what you need to know about preparing for a disaster. Each person in the Flinders Shire Community should take time to conduct preparedness activities around the home and business, or sit down with the family to discuss about their Household Emergency Plan.
Visit www.getready.qld.gov.au for more information.
Kids Disaster Preparedness
Have a plan for your Animals?
Pack your emergency kit
An emergency kit has the essential supplies you need when a flood, bushfire or storm forces you to:
- evacuate in a hurry
- manage with no electricity or water
- stay indoors when it’s unsafe to leave the property.
Everyone’s emergency kit will look different, so think about your situation and pack what's right for you.
Items to pack include:
- a portable, battery-operated radio (with spare batteries)
- waterproof torch
- first aid kit
- essential medications and prescription details
- toiletry and sanitary supplies
- drinking water in sealed containers
- canned or dried food with can opener and utensils
- copies of important documents (insurances, driver licence, passport)
- cash
- household emergency plan with contact numbers of family and friends
- mobile phone and charger
- sealable waterproof bags
- tools such as pliers, utility knife and scissors
- waterproof gloves
- spare clothes and bedding in the event you need to evacuate.
Respond (Action)
Having accurate, up-to-date information during a disaster is essential, as it enables you to respond effectively and protect your family, friends, and pets.
Visit our Flinders Shire Disaster Dashboard for the latest information on:
- Emergency News
- Weather Warnings
- Road Conditions
- Water and Sewer Interruptions
- Weather Radar
- River Heights
- Rainfall
- Evacuation Centres
- Emergency Contacts
- Power Outages
- Flood Cameras
What should I do during a disaster?
- Tune in to West FM 102.7 or ABC 1485AM
- Check the Bureau of Meteorology website for weather warnings
- Check the Flinders Shire Disaster Dashboard for updates
- Listen to advice from authorities and respond quickly
Recovery (Rebuilding)
Recovery can be a long and challenging process that requires recognising the diversity of our community. We need to take quick action at crucial times, even if resources are compromised.The success of our recovery after a disaster is entirely dependent on the resilience and ongoing engagement of the affected community.
Community Recovery
After an event, affected individuals and communities have diverse needs, wants and expectations. Demands are immediate, evolve rapidly and may create long term legacies.
Recovery provides an opportunity to improve and enhance social and natural environments, infrastructure and economies and contributing to a more resilient community. Successful recovery relies on recognising this complexity, using community-led approaches, communicating effectively, and acknowledging and building capacity.
To prepare for Recovery events in the future we are committed to building resilience within our community by implementing the lessons we have identified through our recovery processes.
Recovery Functions
Effective recovery requires a coordinated effort by all agencies to develop needs analysis, consequence management, community engagement, planning and service delivery.
As recovery is a complex and potentially long process, aspects of recovery are grouped into four functions, including:
- Economic
- Environmental
- Human-Social
- Infrastructure
- Roads
There are four agencies for leading recovery under each of these functions. Their responsibilities during recovery have a direct link to the relevant agency’s core business, and depend upon the nature and consequences of an event. For example:
- A marine oil spill may generate significant environmental and economic impacts that require additional emphasis on financial and industry recovery
- A cyclone may generate more physical damage that requires greater emphasis on infrastructure, road and property recovery
- A pandemic may require greater emphasis on human-social recovery and communications
The State Recovery Group (SRG) assists in overall coordination of recovery activities across the four functional areas. During recovery operations, the SRG supports and assists local and district groups.
These agencies and contributing organisations provide a supporting role and work with the affected community to rebuild and strengthen community resilience.