Understanding how floods impact communities provides insights on policies aimed at reducing the impact of future flood events. Climate change scenarios suggest an increase in extreme rainfall events, contributing to a greater frequency of riverine and flash floods. At the same time, Emergency Management Australia has shifted its policies for hazard mitigation towards building resilient communities. The experiences of psychological, financial and social stress within the communities preparing for, dealing with, and recovering from the floods provides information to planners and emergency managers. This project looked at the factors inhibiting and enabling household adaptation strategies in the flood-affected communities of Brisbane, Emerald and Donald in the aftermath of the 2010–11 flooding events. Researchers uncovered strengths and weaknesses in community resilience through surveys and face-to-face interviews with residents and local and State government agencies.

This document summarises key findings from the NCCARF report Impact of the 2010/11 floods and the factors that inhibit and enable household adaptation strategies. The project was funded by NCCARF and led by Deanne Bird, Macquarie University.

View the final report 

This photo is copyright © Matthew Mason