Background
During a flood event in March 2021 in the Logan Albert Catchment (Queensland), FloodMapp worked with the State Disaster Centre (SDCC) through Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) to rapidly implement FloodMapp ForeCast for emergency use.
Heavy intensity rainfall (up to 509 mm) led to a major flood being forecasted for the Logan River. The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a major flood warning for the Logan Albert River Basin.
At the time the warning was issued, the Logan River at the town of Beaudesert was at 7.32 metres and rising.
The Problem
During a flood event in March 2021 in the Logan Albert Catchment (Queensland), FloodMapp worked with the State Disaster Centre (SDCC) through Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES) to rapidly implement FloodMapp ForeCast for emergency use.
Heavy intensity rainfall (up to 509 mm) led to a major flood being forecasted for the Logan River. The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) issued a major flood warning for the Logan Albert River Basin.
At the time the warning was issued, the Logan River at the town of Beaudesert was at 7.32 metres and rising.
The Solution
Using FloodMapp ForeCast, powered by DASH, the FloodMapp team not only predicted that the river-peak at an upper limit of 12.5 meters, but could also produce an inundation map. The forecast model was developed and delivered to QFES emergency operations planners within 75 minutes of the request.
ForeCast was rapidly ingested into QFES ArcGIS online portal as a digital map. The SDCC was able to overlay the FloodMapp ForeCast maps with their internal population and assets datasets to provide situational awareness of the potential flood impact to people, property, and critical infrastructure. It also provided a shared common operating picture with the other agencies in the Queensland Disaster Management Arrangements (QDMA).
The Outcome
With the speed and level of accuracy FloodMapp was able to offer, QFES and Queensland Police Service (QPS) were able to rapidly pinpoint impacted properties and plan highly targeted, safe, and timely evacuations and community messaging.
Queensland Police Service was able to print a list of properties and begin evacuations, to keep the community safe. Beaudesert State High School students were sent home before they had been trapped by the flood waters.
Queensland Reconstruction Authority was able to access the Common Operating Picture through the same portal. With this data, QRA was able to undertake rapid spatial analytics to answer strategic level questions from the Queensland Premier's office. This data enabled all staff at the strategic, operational and tactical levels to maintain real-time situational awareness before, during, and after the flood.
“What FloodMapp produced was really valuable and when matched with QFES mapping technology meant that disaster management agencies could immediately identify at risk properties. It also allowed us to print a list of properties and begin doorknocking in plenty of time to allow residents to prepare for the possible flood.”
Senior Sergeant Mike House
Queensland Police Service
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FAQ
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What is FloodMapp's point of difference?We offer a world-first model for scalable, real-time flood mapping. Our proprietary modelling software, DASH, delivers street level flood impact extents across whole states or countries. Where current flood warnings advise of the time and height of a predicted flood peak, our model will predict which specific properties or assets on a street will be impacted or show those that currently are or were previously impacted. FloodMapp’s products support all phases of the emergency management process, enabling situational awareness before, during and after a flood. We’re different because we understand that every flood is different and dynamic. We focus on modelling all phases of a flood event to answer the questions "Where is it going to flood, and what people, property and critical infrastructure will be impacted?”, "What is the extent of the flooding right now?" and "What was the maximum extent of the flood?" We bridge the gap in situational awareness by providing automatic updates of flood impact extent every hour, 24/7, as the flood event unfolds.
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What locations do you provide coverage in?We have growing operational coverage in Australia and the United States, with new regions coming online each week. If you are interested in other areas of the world, please contact us to register your interest.
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How accurate are your results?Our products are built for emergency managers and their peers, with a focus on modelling flood extents in real-time to provide round-the-clock situational awareness. We validate our models based on a variety of publicly and client-provided sources. A large-scale review showed FloodMapp models correctly identify up to 85% of inundated properties, when compared to state government damage assessment datasets.
