Recommendations from the 2022 Flood Review are being steadily implemented at Ipswich City Council, as the second anniversary of the major flood draws near.
The 2022 flood events had a powerful impact on the city and surrounds, including major damage to homes and businesses across the city, the destruction of infrastructure at Colleges Crossing Recreation Reserve and River Heart Parklands, and wide-spread flooding.
Environment and Sustainability Committee Chairperson Deputy Mayor Russell Milligan said following the flood, council commissioned a comprehensive review of the floods, which praised response and recovery efforts and made 47 recommendations for further improvements.
“The 2022 Flood Review demonstrated that Ipswich City Council has strong, effective disaster response and recovery policies in place, in collaboration with key local disaster response agencies and the wider Ipswich communities,” Deputy Mayor Milligan said.
“All 47 recommendations for improvements were adopted by council in December last year.
“To date, council has completed the implementation of 12 recommendations, with 27 further in progress and eight not yet commenced.
“Council has now completed its work on the improvement of culturally and linguistically diverse messaging and calls to action, as well as improvement for council’s flood maps and forecasts.
“We are continuing our work exploring options to expand the flood camera network, which has already proven to be successful in providing timely information to residents on flood levels across the city.
“We are also focused on exploring ways to further support high-risk communities, such as those who are likely to be isolated during a flood.
“A key recommendation in the report was to review the number and locations of centres available during a flood event and the standard to which they can operate.
“This and other recommendations made in the 2022 Flood Review were sensible, timely and effective ways for council to improve Ipswich’s flood resilience.
“We know that future floods will come, and the implementation of these recommendations will ensure we are well-equipped to face whatever happens in the future.
“Work on these recommendations will continue in 2024.”
The full progress report on the 2022 Flood Review is available on council’s website.
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