Inundation from flood waters is an annual occurrence for many living in Far North Queensland. For a remote community located an hour west of the Atherton tablelands, a rain event during a monsoon will often make it impossible for residents to get to much needed resources. Furthermore, a severe event could have a much larger impact as the local water supply is sourced at a dam located upstream from the creek that runs through the middle of town. Significant rainfall could cause a quiet creek to become a raging torrent in just a short time.
Until recently, the community has only had the sound of running water and predicted water heights to make critical evacuation decisions. Implementation of a siren network and current conditions, display controlled by local disaster response teams makes use of incoming real time data from the dam spillway upstream. Warning SMS messages are transmitted to disaster management coordinators in extreme weather events.
The reality of severe weather events such as floods in South East Queensland in 2011 and Category 5 Cyclone Yasi in North Queensland just a month later has prompted the installation of a Flood Warning System to protect the population from sudden inundation during a severe weather event. Real time data is measured at the dam spillway and provided to the evacuation planning centre to assist evacuation action plan procedures. A siren network throughout the town can be activated at a moment’s notice and SMS warning messages are sent to regional disaster management coordinators.
Measurements are taken at the Dam spillway by existing Campbell Scientific equipment. A CR1000 data logger takes water condition and depth readings from bubblers in the catchment and downstream from the dam over a V-notch flume. An RF450 spread spectrum radio network relays real time data through repeaters to external databases using a cell phone modem in a strong signal area, data also transmits to a CR800 data logger at the emergency planning centre. This CR800 is capable of controlling the siren network throughout town by analysing data and is connected to a PC running Campbell Scientific LoggerNet software with an RTMC user interface capable of displaying water levels and controlling siren functions.
The system will react to a severe weather event when flood waters exceed a critical predetermined upstream water level, this is communicated to the evacuation centre data logger. The system is capable of initiating the evacuation sirens automatically or manually by the evacuation coordinators using the RTMC interface in the evacuation centre. The availability of real time flood condition data provides a critical tool for evacuation coordinators and the siren network gives a reliable method of initiating evacuation procedures.