Toowoomba floods

TOOWOOMBA has been inundated with flood water following a freak storm that smashed roads and swept away cars. Amanda Gearing REPORTS.

Lessons from media reporting of natural disasters : a case study of the 2011 flash floods in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley

Practice-led journalism research techniques were used in this study to produce a ‘first draft of history’ recording the human experience of survivors and rescuers during the January 2011 flash flood disaster in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley in Queensland, Australia. The study aimed to discover what can be learnt from engaging in journalistic reporting of natural disasters. This exegesis demonstrates that journalism can be both a creative practice and a research methodology. About 120 survivors, rescuers and family members of victims participated in extended interviews about what happened to them and how they survived. Their stories are the basis for two creative outputs of the study: a radio documentary and a non-fiction book, that document how and why people died, or survived, or were rescued. Listeners and readers are taken "into the flood" where they feel anxious for those in peril, relief when people are saved, and devastated when babies, children and adults are swept away to their deaths. In undertaking reporting about the human experience of the floods, several significant elements about journalistic reportage of disasters were exposed. The first related to the vital role that the online social media played during the disaster for individuals, citizen reporters, journalists and emergency services organisations. Online social media offer reporters powerful new reporting tools for both gathering and disseminating news. The second related to the performance of journalists in covering events involving traumatic experiences. Journalists are often required to cover trauma and are often amongst the first-responders to disasters. This study found that almost all of the disaster survivors who were approached were willing to talk in detail about their traumatic experiences. A finding of this project is that journalists who interview trauma survivors can develop techniques for improving their ability to interview people who have experienced traumatic events. These include being flexible with interview timing and selecting a location; empowering interviewees to understand they don’t have to answer every question they are asked; providing emotional security for interviewees; and by being committed to accuracy. Survivors may exhibit posttraumatic stress symptoms but some exhibit and report posttraumatic growth. The willingness of a high proportion of the flood survivors to participate in the flood research made it possible to document a relatively unstudied question within the literature about journalism and trauma – when and why disaster survivors will want to speak to reporters. The study sheds light on the reasons why a group of traumatised people chose to speak about their experiences. Their reasons fell into six categories: lessons need to be learned from the disaster; a desire for the public to know what had happened; a sense of duty to make sure warning systems and disaster responses to be improved in future; personal recovery; the financial disinterest of reporters in listening to survivors; and the timing of the request for an interview. Feedback to the creative-practice component of this thesis - the book and radio documentary - shows that these issues are not purely matters of ethics. By following appropriate protocols, it is possible to produce stories that engender strong audience responses such as that the program was "amazing and deeply emotional" and "community storytelling at its most important". Participants reported that the experience of the interview process was "healing" and that the creative outcome resulted in "a very precious record of an afternoon of tragedy and triumph and the bitter-sweetness of survival".

SettleMEN-2: Displaced twice? Impact of the Queensland floods on men from refugee backgrounds living in Brisbane and Toowoomba. Broadsheet No. 1: Exposure to and impact of the floods

Between 2008 and 2010, the SettleMEN study followed a group of 233 recently arrived men from refugee backgrounds living in urban and regional Southeast Queensland with the aim of documenting their health and settlement experiences. The study found that overall, these men bring important resources that may help them to cope better with the challenges of settlement: good levels of subjective health status, mental health and wellbeing; good family and social support; and good levels of engagement in tertiary/trade education in Australia. Over time, however, their levels of wellbeing decreased as they experienced barriers to social participation and inclusion within their host community, including: unemployment and difficulties securing good jobs (even for those with tertiary/trade qualifications obtained in Australia), financial stress, difficulties accessing housing, limited interactions with neighbours, and experiences of racism and discrimination. Importantly, although men living in the Toowoomba acknowledged some of the benefits of regional settlement, they faced greater barriers to participation in the labour market, reported lower job satisfaction, and were more likely to experience social exclusion overall. In 2012 method approach and a peer interviewer model, we were able to conduct a follow 141 (61%) of the original 233 SettleMEN participants to document the impact of the January 2011 Queensland floods on their health and settlement. This broadsheet focuses on participants’ degree of exposure to and impact of the floods, their perceptions of safety and security, and their vulnerability and adaptive capacity to extreme weather events.

One year on : the devastating Queensland floods

"Tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary of the devastating floods that hit Queensland's Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba and starting today, we'll begin a series of interviews with survivors of those floods on the 10th of January last year. In today's program, Murphy's Creek resident Nelly Gitsham how she sent her family to safety and then ventured into the flood to try to save her neighbour's horse, only to find herself needing to be rescued by another neighbour, John Taylor." Reporter: Amanda Gearing

Queensland floods anniversary : Peter McCarron

"Today marks the one year anniversary of the devastating floods that hit Queensland. This is the second in our series of survival from the Toowoomba and Lockyer Valley floods on the 10th of January 2011. Today, Queensland Fire and Rescue officer Peter McCarron tells Amanda Gearing about the flood emergency in Toowoomba's central business district: torrential rain suddenly caused flash flooding of city streets and swept away dozens of people and hundreds of cars."

Queensland floods anniversary : Brian Willmett

"In today's story we hear from Postmans Ridge helicopter pilot, Brian Willmett, and how he and his neighbours worked together to rescue four people, including Kevin and Eileen Lees, from the inland tsunami which swept down the Lockyer Valley during last year's Queensland floods. It was a ten metre high wave that swept through Postmans Ridge that day, ripping houses from their foundations and sweeping two people to their deaths. Brian Willmett was at home when he suddenly ran to rescue neighbours who were in danger. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled Aftermath, an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia, Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Queensland floods anniversary : Angela Emmerson

"We're marking the anniversary of the destructive floods that hit Queensland a year ago this week with our series of interviews from survivors. Today's story is from Helidon teenager and university student Angela Emmerson, who tells Amanda Gearing how she and her sister scrambled to the roof to escape the dangerous flash flood which suddenly engulfed their house on the 10th of January last year. Tomorrow we'll hear from Grantham resident Rob Wilkin who rescued 31 local people using his car and boat. He helped them escape to safety as 138 houses in the town were destroyed. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled Aftermath, an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia; Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Queensland floods anniversary : Rob Wilkin

"This week, we have been marking the anniversary of the destructive floods that hit Queensland a year ago this week with a series of interviews from survivors. Today's story comes from Grantham resident Rob Wilkin who helped save 31 people in the flash flood disaster on the 10th of January last year. 23 people in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley died and 138 houses in the town were destroyed.. To mark the anniversary of the floods in Queensland, ABC Open has compiled 'Aftermath', an extensive look at the Queensland floods as well as floods in NSW, Victoria and remote Western Australia, Cyclone Yasi and the 2009 Victorian 'Black Saturday' bushfires. Australia certainly has been hit by a few disasters in the past two or so years. The site has a timeline showing content from these six disasters, with links to about 40 people effected by these disasters. If you go to that site you will be able to choose a person to watch videos about them."

Eight dead, 70 missing as flash floods strike Queensland

"Eight people are dead and there are grave fears the toll may rise with at least 70 missing after flash floods swept through southeastern Queensland."

Assessing the impact of floods and flood legislation on residential property prices

The changing development and population sprawl in major cities, especially those located in high rainfall areas, has resulted in the need to review and re-assess potential flood impacts in these cities. In many cases these new flood lines and flood maps have placed residential property that was previously considered to be flood free to now be considered to be potentially flood liable. Previous research based in Sydney and the UK has identified the fact that residential property that has been subject to flooding has a decreased price and higher investment risk than flood free property in the same location. These studies have also shown that the greatest impact on residential property subject to flooding is just following a flood event. In June 2009, Brisbane City Council released revised flood maps for the Greater Brisbane region and these maps have identified areas that have not previously been considered flood liable. This paper will analyse the sale performance of flood liable streets in the main flood areas of Brisbane over the period January 1990 through to June 2009, to determine the variation in price for these flood liable areas to the residential property immediately adjoining them. The average sale price will be tracked on both a geographic location and socio-economic basis.

Health impacts of floods

Introduction: Floods are the most common hazard to cause disasters and have led to extensive morbidity and mortality throughout the world. The impact of floods on the human community is related directly to the location and topography of the area, as well as human demographics and characteristics of the built environment. Objectives: The aim of this study is to identify the health impacts of disasters and the underlying causes of health impacts associated with floods. A conceptual framework is developed that may assist with the development of a rational and comprehensive approach to prevention, mitigation, and management. Methods: This study involved an extensive literature review that located >500 references, which were analyzed to identify common themes, findings, and expert views. The findings then were distilled into common themes. Results: The health impacts of floods are wide ranging, and depend on a number of factors. However, the health impacts of a particular flood are specific to the particular context. The immediate health impacts of floods include drowning, injuries, hypothermia, and animal bites. Health risks also are associated with the evacuation of patients, loss of health workers, and loss of health infrastructure including essential drugs and supplies. In the mediumterm, infected wounds, complications of injury, poisoning, poor mental health, communicable diseases, and starvation are indirect effects of flooding. In the long-term, chronic disease, disability, poor mental health, and poverty-related diseases including malnutrition are the potential legacy. Conclusions: This article proposes a structured approach to the classification of the health impacts of floods and a conceptual framework that demonstrates the relationships between floods and the direct and indirect health consequences.

Brisbane floods : a traffic and transport perspective

Flood-besieged Brisbane residents were forced to watch the monster river consume their homes and livelihoods then see the receding water leave behind a putrid, tar-like sludge. The rains formed by multiple low pressure systems over Central Queensland caused chaos over the Christmas and New Year break for many parts of Queensland.

Floods, earthquakes and insurance coverage : issues, problems and solutions

The recent floods in Queensland and elsewhere in Australia as well as the recent earthquakes in New Zealand have again given rise to very significant uninsured losses. This article looks at the issue of cover protection against catastrophes such as floods and earthquakes affecting home buildings and contents insurance and the standard cover provisions of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth). It points also to the possibility of a national scheme to cover natural disasters including floods.

Towards distributed citizen participation : lessons from WikiLeaks and the Queensland Floods

This paper examines the rapid and ad hoc development and interactions of participative citizen communities during acute events, using the examples of the 2011 floods in Queensland, Australia, and the global controversy surrounding Wikileaks and its spokesman, Julian Assange. The self-organising community responses to such events which can be observed in these cases bypass or leapfrog, at least temporarily, most organisational or administrative hurdles which may otherwise frustrate the establishment of online communities; they fast-track the processes of community development and structuration. By understanding them as a form of rapid prototyping, e-democracy initiatives can draw important lessons from observing the community activities around such acute events.