Geography in the 21st Century

Role of Spatial Information in Response toQueensland’s Natural Disasters

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode

Steve Jacoby

General-Manager Spatial Information, DNRM

Chair Queensland Spatial Information Councilsteven.jacoby@dnrm.qld.gov.au

Department of Natural Resources & Mines

Contents• Role of Spatial Information (Qld Floods & Cyclone Yasi)

– Aerial photography

– Satellite imagery

– Recording of flood lines

– Before & After mapping

• How this information was used– Queensland Reconstruction Authority

– Premier’s Disaster Relief Fund

– Commission of Inquiry

• Work completed in the last year• Challenges & future work• Resource list

Spatial Information Group - DNRM

• - surveying infrastructure• - cadastral information• - topographic information• - imagery• - mapping products and services• - GIS modelling & analysis

Area of Queensland is 1.734M km2

• Larger than Alaska • 2.5x size of Texas• 7x size of Great Britain• 42x size of The Netherlands

Population of Queensland is approx 4.6M

Population density is approx 2.5 people per km2

65% of Queenslanders live in South East Queensland...

16th Libya

17th Queensland

18th Iran

...

1,550 km(960 mi)

2,100 km(1,300 mi)

• Brisbane

• Largest natural disaster in Queensland’s history• Flooding covered 70% of the State• 35 people dead, 3 remain missing• 136,000 residential properties affected• 148,000 buildings damaged• 9,170 km State owned roads damaged• 4,787 km rail damaged• 480,000 residents lost power• 126,688 insurance claims• $6.8B damages• $9B lost productivity• Over $277M dispersed from the Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal

Dec 2010Rainfall

100mm

400mm

800mm

200mm

300mm

600mm

Queensland Floods & Cyclones Summary– Summer 10 / 11

Queensland floods – prelude...

• El Nino drought had gripped the Country since 2000• Water storages in Wivenhoe reached 15% in August 2007• But by early 2010, La Nina had arrived in force• Wivenhoe achieved 95% (storage compartment) in March 2010• September races in Birdsville were cancelled (first time in 128yrs)• Central and Western districts were saturated• By December 10, four people had died in flood waters in the State• Brisbane was experiencing its wettest December on record

Historic water levels in Lake Wivenhoe (seqwater)

15% - August 2007

95% - March 2010

126% - October 2010

Queensland floods – last week in December

• Tropical Cyclone Tasha (Cat 1) crossed the coast just south of Cairns on Christmas Day – heading south

• 160 people from Dalby & 50 people from Chinchilla evacuated (27th & 28th Dec)

• Theodore becomes the first town to be fully evacuated in Queensland’s history on the 29th December

• 400 people forced to leave their homes in Bundaberg &130 from Condamine (30th Dec)

• 1,000 homes affected in Emerald by the 31st December

DNRM (Spatial Information) were called in on 27th December to assist Red Cross with mapping support for their deployment

Flood Affected Towns31 December, 2010

Queensland floods – Spatial Information Group

• By 1 Jan:– Record levels were being forecast by Bureau of Meteorology in many

centres– We began planning for acquisition of aerial photography to record the peak

flood event in the major centres (if possible)

• One of our existing R&D projects began supplying Satellite Radar data through to EMQ

– Queensland (led by DNRM) is a participant in the Cooperative Research Centre – Spatial Information

– EMQ began receiving images via UNSW from an Italian radar satellite– Radar can operate at night and independent of cloud– Satellites can be tasked quickly and data delivered within hours…

1st Jan Cosmo Skymed Radar satellite imageryUNSW / CRC Spatial Information(Record peak 16.05m 0600 31st Dec)

Cosmo Skymed 1st Jan Radar satellite imageryoverlaid with aerial photography

Data acquisition program (week 1)Sun 2nd ~ Sat 8th January• Towns expected to peak at record levels included:

– Fitzroy – Rockhampton (5th)– Condamine-Balonne – Surat (4th), St George (8th+), Dirranbandi & Hebel– Moonie – Thallon (tba)– Weir – Talwood (tba)

• DNRM set about acquiring aerial photography over these towns to coincide with expected record flood peaks

– Weather permitting!

• Discovered that Rockhampton Council had arranged aerial photography for the city & surrounds as had Banana Shire

• Discovered contractors had acquired Emerald (31st) on ‘spec’• Organised a tender from DNRM’s panel for the other 6 towns

– Tendered and let same day (Tue 4th) – flying commenced on Wed 5th

Aerial Photography

• Queensland’s flying season is not December & January!– Prefer clear, dry conditions (April – September)

• Cloud is the major factor. Aircraft can get under cloud (down to 500m) but end up acquiring significantly more data at greater cost

• Costs average between $80 - $150 per km2

• High resolution data is around 15cm but can be as low as 3cm pixels

• ‘Fast Mosaic’ usually delivered in 2 days• Final imagery in 7 days+• Not suited to Disaster Response due to the

time lag in getting the data

Timely Delivery of Information

Critical to have information in the first few minutes / hours for Response:~ flash flood~ wildfire~ search & rescue~ tsunami~ infrastructure failure~ terrorist attack

International Charter – Space & Major Disasters• Made aware of this International Agreement• First time used in Australia - Imagery is provided on a ‘best

endeavours’ basis by operators (can’t task the satellites)• Commenced 4th Jan – Over 120 images / 12 satellite sensors

Interesting more than useful – good research opportunities

Landsat54th JanuaryBurdekin River

GeoeyeOptical satellite6th JanuaryRockhampton

7th JanAster SatelliteRockhampton

Landsat5 MosaicCondamine – Balonne River6th January

DMCiiCubbie Station14th January

Key maps are available for all imagery products collected by DNRM as well as those under the Charter (120+).Thumbnails (as above) & raw digital data held by DNRM.

‘Before’ map prepared fromQueensland Aerial Imagery Library

‘After’ map usually availablewithin a week of flying – fast mosaic within 2 days

…Flash floods – Toowoomba & Lockyer Valley(Mon 10 Jan)

Toowoomba & Lockyer Valley flash floods (Mon 10th Jan)

• Provision of DEM and aerial photography services (before & after) - inquests

• Engaged ADF for aerial photography support (1 Topo Sq)

• Photo-mosaic base mapping – multiple local governments

Post flood Pre flood

Post flood Pre flood

Ipswich & Brisbane flood(12th & 13th Jan)

• Two day’s advance notice• Expected to be less than 1974• Demand for historic flood

mapping data (from 1974)• DEM and contour information• Aerial photography acquisition• Flood line mapping

– Record of the event

1975

Historic water levels in Lake Wivenhoe (seqwater)

Brisbane River

• Peaked at 4.46m at 3:30am on Thursday 13th January 2011 (5.45m in 1974)

• Flow of 9,400 cumecs (cubic metres per second) at the City Gauge

• Was completed for

Brisbane & Ipswich

• 2D photo-interpretation

• Imagery acquired 13th & 14th Jan

• Aided by Lidar & 0.25m contours

• Important record of actual water line – not a modelled level from gauge readings or discrete observations

Debris lines

Flood Line Mapping

Preliminary Flood Line Extent – Brisbane CBDPreliminary Flood Line Extent – FairfieldPreliminary Flood Line Extent – Newfarm

BCC line

DNRM line

BCC line

DNRM line

Amended line?

BCC line

DNRM line

Amended line?

Brisbane & Ipswich – 2011 flood extents

Tropical Cyclone YasiCrossed the coast near Mission Beach at approx 12:30am on 3 Feb, 2011 (BoM)

LegendBoM TC Yasi Very Destructive Winds (Greater than 165 km/hr)

BoM TC Yasi Destructive Winds (125-164 km/hr)

BoM TC Yasi Gale Force Winds (90-125 km/hr)

TC Larry Intense Damage area

TC Larry Outer Damage area

Townsville

Cardwell

Ingham

Cairns

Greenvale

Gerogetown

Almaden

TC Yasi Track

TC Larry Track

TC Larry • 20-21 Mar 2006 • Category 4• 945 hPa• Gusts up to 240 km/hr

TC Yasi• 2-4 Feb 2011• Category 5• 930 hPa• Gusts up to 290 km/hr

Innisfail

Mission Beach

Spatial Information Program~ TC Yasi

• Natural Disasters impacted 210 towns and suburbs • 187 were flood affected• 23 affected by TC Yasi• Again aerial photography was critical• Before & After maps in towns• Weather more challenging...

Hinchinbrooke Is.Flying conditions after TC Yasi

AAM aircraft & crew

Port Hinchinbrook after TC Yasi

Port Hinchinbrook pre TC Yasi

Importance of the Flood Lines and Damage Extents• Spatial Imagery & the resultant Flood Lines have become critical

products and a key record of these events– Insurance processing

– Metrics for affected properties, businesses, infrastructure, etc

– Planning and reconstruction

– Tax concessions

– Commission of Inquiry (critical record)

– Relief claims

Premier’s Disaster Relief Appeal• Amended assessment process – ‘water over floor-boards’• Geocoded all applications and checked them against flood lines• 21,400 applications / 7 day operation• Joint effort with Premiers, Communities and Centrelink

Goodna 2011 – Claims for PDRA assistance

• Ability to ‘layer’ in flood lines into a 3D model?• Requires high resolution data (Lidar) & rigorous survey / image capture techniques

• Can this approach be used to convey flood warnings / risk?

It’s all about Geography!Predictive capabilities and public understanding• Brisbane is located on a very active

floodplain• Only half of the Brisbane catchment

is regulated by Wivenhoe Dam• Local rainfall and concentration

times (36 to 48hrs max)• Storm water drains & infrastructure• Warnings given relative to ‘1974’ or

in metres at the ‘City Gauge’• Flood Flag maps (BCC) show where

flooding may occur• How well does the public

understand flood risk?

Brisbane & Ipswich – 2011 flood and Probable Maximum Flood extents

Produced inundation mapsfor 14 / 126 River sub-basins where we had satellite imagery available

Developed a new floodplain mapping technique

10m Contours LandSat Gauging Heights

Pre-cleared vegetation

Stream Orders 5 – 9

Aerial for towns

State-wide mapping• Floodplains for all relevant sub-basins

have been completed (115 / 126) • Floodplains cover 26.6% Queensland

or 450,000 km2 and 440 towns• 8,854 map pages produced (A3

@1:50,000 scale)• Mapping was completed in 7 months

- Largest mapping program of its type undertaken in Australia

• Lidar coverage complete for all but 80 towns with population on the floodplain

St George Feb 2012

• Lidar coverage available

• Flood lines available from 2011

• Estimated flood gradient available

• Predictive inundation models generated

– 13.1m previous record in 2010– 13.5m– 14.0m– 14.5m– 15.0m

• Highway shown to be cut at 13.4m

• Mandatory evacuation ordered

• River peaked at 13.95m

St George – predicted 15.0m inundation

St George – 2012 flood peak at 13.95m

Qld Floods Commission of Inquiry

• Released March 2012• Final report contained 177 recommendations• State Government supports all recommendations…

• Current flood studies for all urban areas• Non urban areas to be assessed and mapped for flood

risk • All Councils to maintain up-to-date flood information• Flood maps and property specific flooding information

intended for use by the general public should be readily interpretable

• All flood mapping to be available through websites…

• Clearly an important on-going role for Spatial Information to help communicate effective and timely flood risk

Key lessons and areas for further research

1. Imagery- is required before and immediately after an event: timeliness

2. Flood lines - important to have an authoritative record of major flood events- important to calibrate models- different approaches for urban vs rural

3. Data Issues - having existing, current, high resolution elevation data is critical- floor levels and building construction data required - flood information (hydrologic and hydraulic models) critical

4. Communication & Awareness- Mapping & 3D models that are ‘fit for purpose’- effectively and accurately convey risk and warnings- public education and awareness

Key Resources

• Qld Floods Commission of Inquiry Website: www.floodcommission.qld.gov.aufinal report of the Commission of Inquiry (March 2012)

• QRA Website: www.qldreconstruction.org.au

interactive mapping, floodlines, before & after maps

• QGIS Website: http://dds.information.qld.gov.au/dds/download imagery& floodlines

• DNRM Website: http://www.derm.qld.gov.au/mapping/flood/index.htmlaccess & download satellite imagery, aerial photography, floodlines, town maps, web services for the 2012 SW Queensland Floods

Charleville 2012 Roma 2012

The End / Questions