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Visualisation highlights flood risk

30 April 2008

Matthew Coller, Professor Jim Peterson and Peter Wheeler are working with colleague Dr Joshphar Kunapo (not pictured) on an interactive tool that predicts flood risk at Lakes Entrance.

Monash researchers have developed an interactive flood visualisation tool that can be used to provide greater understanding of flood risk due to climate change.

PhD student Peter Wheeler is leading the project team which includes Associate Professor Jim Peterson and Dr Joshphar Kunapo from the School of Geography and Environmental Science, and Masters student Matthew Coller from the Faculty of Information Technology.

The visualisation tool focuses on Lakes Entrance, in East Gippsland, which has experienced two damaging floods in recent years.

Mr Wheeler said the visualisation tool enabled users to create scenarios that could be used to raise awareness of potential flood risk.

"Until now there has been no way of visualising what may happen during a flood event at Lakes Entrance," Mr Wheeler said.

"Future climate change projections for this region suggest that the combined effects of catchment flooding and coastal storm surge could make inundation events more frequent and intense in coming years.

"Low-lying coastal settlements in other areas of Victoria are also vulnerable and may be subjected to similar flooding events in the future.

"The methodology of this tool can be applied to these other areas which will help with flood contingency planning and the identification of 'at risk' land parcels and infrastructure."

Associate Professor Jim Peterson said important strategic planning decisions must be made in the near future to reduce or mitigate inundation hazards in areas like Lakes Entrance which were at significant risk of flooding.

"We need to plan now so we can adequately cope with future inundation and climate change scenarios," Professor Peterson said.

"This visualisation tool is one way of providing decision-support for coastal-zone stakeholders."

The Lakes Entrance Visualisation tool can be found at the SahulTime website.