Flood Warning and Damages in Alice Springs: Part 1 Executive Summary. Part 2 Tangible Damages Part 3 Intangible Damages & Emergency Procedures
Handmer, John; Smith, D. I.; Greenaway, Mark
E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; Report ; 53/1989
1989-04-01
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
Date:1989-04
English
Power and Water Authority
Alice Springs
Report ; 53/1989
application/pdf.
Check within Publication or with content Publisher.
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/228902
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/673596
Technical Report WRA89053 Viewed at 03:02:00 on 18/02/2010 Page 39 of 139. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I The standard approach to obtain esti~ates of commercial indirect da:nage is to assume that such losses are, on average a fixed proportion of direct damage. The val!Je used varies slightly bet~een different workers but 60% is tllought to be appropriate in this case. This has been selected to allow for the ~o~ts of the clean-up operation, as described below. It is recomrnended that t.he commercial tor Alice Springs have a value of $360,000. This accords wit.t: the information obtained from t!-"le ccnmercial intervie~.;s . Clean-up This too, is difficult to cost. The pattern for all forms of commercial activity is for the staff, regardless of their usual role, to undertake clea2-up activities i~mediately following a flood. P~ofessional cleaners are rarely used following a major flood, as the demand for such services far outstrips the supply. This was so for Alice Springs and ~o examples were found where staff were laid-off due to the disruption of the flood; they all assisted with ttle clean-up operations. This diversion fram their normal activity is a major cost and [tie recommend that it is included within the indirec~ losses, as outlined above. In a few inscances ext~a costs were incurred. For the most badly flooded hotels and motels carpets were professionally cleaned and for other enterprises extra vehicles were hired to transport debris away from the si~e. In two cases, eq the Red Cross Blood Bank, informal volunteer help appea~ed on the scene to assist. The Department of Transport and t--lorks was a special case ~ They were responsible for a wide variety of clean-up operacions, including roads and open spaces both within Alice Springs .:ind the surrounding region~ They. hGia,~an overtime bill of $25,000 due directly to the flood.clean-up, which has been treated as an I'additional flood los~~'. Add.itional Flood Losses The ANUFLOOD procedures, on which the damage estimates are based, are designed to es~imate direct damage co buildings and their contents. They do not include losses to infrastructu~e such as roads, culverts, power, water supply etc. Information on such losses was obtained from a number of government authorities although in some cases the final costs ' ... ~ere not available. A fur-ther complication is that such losses are frequently presented for a much more extensive area than is used in this account. Table 2.7 lists ~ajor infrastructure losses, although some less significant losses may still be omitted. For example the Conservat ion Commission of the Northe:-n Territory estimated a total regional loss, for its area of central Australia, as $1.6 million. The bulk of these losses were to facilities external to the area of the current study. For example, major losses to facilities in