Territory Stories

Flood Warning and Damages in Alice Springs: Part 1 Executive Summary. Part 2 Tangible Damages Part 3 Intangible Damages & Emergency Procedures

Details:

Title

Flood Warning and Damages in Alice Springs: Part 1 Executive Summary. Part 2 Tangible Damages Part 3 Intangible Damages & Emergency Procedures

Creator

Handmer, John; Smith, D. I.; Greenaway, Mark

Collection

E-Publications; E-Books; PublicationNT; Report ; 53/1989

Date

1989-04-01

Description

Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).

Notes

Date:1989-04

Language

English

Publisher name

Power and Water Authority

Place of publication

Alice Springs

Series

Report ; 53/1989

File type

application/pdf.

Copyright owner

Check within Publication or with content Publisher.

Parent handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/228902

Citation address

https://hdl.handle.net/10070/673596

Page content

Technical Report WRA89053 Viewed at 03:02:00 on 18/02/2010 Page 52 of 139. I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Background and brief Following the flooding of Al~:e Sprinqs on Marc~ 3D, 1988, the W~te~ Directorate of the ~orther~-Ter~~t0ry ?()wer and Wdter Authority (Pi\NA) ~-:Dmmi.ssione::f :--.ne Ce:--.Lr-e ::)r Resour"ce and Env ironmc:1tal Studies (CR2S) a::: Lhe }"us t t'dl i. an :---Iat Iorio 1 University ~a undertake a stLdv, The stud; had chree !nain a.ims: ( , ) '. to assess by the flood of eii) to examine flood brochure; t he II act ual G3.r1.aqe It C 3,usec in t1a t:"c h 19 B 8 i t.f',e ceact ion ( iii) . -- . . --- to assess Ltle et~eCtlverless and percept~o~s of ~he worning systelA and associated Smergency Se~vice opera~ions. The study brief specified that special attencion was to be paid to the aboriginal =ommunity, wh~ch appeared to have been particula~ly severely affected by che flood. The brief also limited the resedrc~ to the lJrbarL area of Alice Springs. r_n.e f1,-..,.,-,0 ~rC(1',"'''';rl{T r;:ll'~s 'e~".:::l; br~u(J:-,t- 'DV a t-r~oical ._,----,,,,, ~"' . ..I_ ,~_. ~ _....... h _'- V :jl...... .;. .. ~ v~ _ _ depression which travelled from the Pilbara region of Western Australia ac!:"oss the ::ontinent to southeast Queensland. Rainfall in cent~al Australia commo~ly results froln easterly moving depressions, however an this occasio~ the rainfall was exceptionally heavy. It is estimated that it released nearly 80 per cent of central Australia's annual average rainfall i.n the 48 hO'Jr period., tvla=ch ~O-31. Some 200mm of rain feIl in Ali.ce Springs a:1d pa~l:s bf the Todd River catchment. The Todd River peaked ac II.30arn on ~arch 31, ac a gauge height of 3.98 metres. The flow was 1190 ~umeCSr Wittl an annual exceedence probability of 1 in 50 (1 :50). ~iver flooding was much less extensive than indicated on the preexisting flood map, and was approximately equal co the flooded area shown for the 1 in 20 event. geayy rain i~ the city caused widespread flooding frcm direct local runoff and drain overflow in addition to river flooding. ~lood water entered some houses and businesses, but road transport both withirl and outside Alice Sprinqs was severely disrupted. Aboriginal camper-s in the Todd River and adjacenT: area.s \,,;ere badly effected. No official w3rni~gs o~ the ~lood we~c iss~ed t~ ~he public by the broadcast media.