Deana Arbelaez
Geography Assessment
South East Queensland Floods
Description of the natural hazard:
In December 2010, Queensland was hit with a series of floods that forced thousands of
people to evacuate from the towns and cities of south eastern Queensland. Floods are
where water covers an area of land which is usually dry and swamps the area with a high
level of rain water.
Causes that led to this natural hazard happening (diagrams could be included here).
When rain falls heavily it can lead to a point where the water level has reached its max
which then river systems can’t sustain, this then results in flooding. Due to cyclone Yassi, the
torrential rain and heavy precipitation impacted the cause of the flooding in Queensland in
2010. As cyclones are frequent occurrences in far north Queensland during the wet time
periods (December to march) this caused it to effect the weather and terrain of Queensland.
A map of Australia showing the location of the natural hazard (Google Earth) showing
latitude, longitude, altitude and distance from major cities.
One of the most affected areas of Queensland
was Theodore.
Theodore area longitude and latitude: 24.95 degrees south, 150.08 degrees east.
Distance from Theodore to:
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Condamine = 257.4 km
Emerald = 337.9 km
Rockhampton = 227.7 km
Bundaberg = 382.5 km
Map of the most affected
areas in Queensland in
result of the floods.
An indication of the landform and climate at the natural hazard location (include a climate
graph). It is important that you comment on the relationship between landforms, climate
and vegetation at the natural hazard location.
The landform during the Queensland floods was a very big change compared to its original
state. The difference was that most of Queensland’s major cities and communities were left
under water with no hope of re constructing what had sunk under the high level of water
Deana Arbelaez
Geography Assessment
that was filling the streets and rural areas of Queensland. A key factor in the starting of a
flood is rainfall. Considering the state of areas around Queensland and the impact cyclone
Yassi had on these floods, the rainfall coming from that natural hazard impacted and
dramatically increased the rise of the water level.
The climate during the floods was impacted greatly by the strong La Nina event which
brought increased precipitation to Queensland. As the temperature began to increase the
water level became stronger and harder to prevent this caused the floods to get to an
extreme level of caution for the people of Queensland.
The relationship between the landform, climate and vegetation throughout these floods
was very significant. When the rainfall became heavier some of it was able to be captured
by the soil and vegetation. The more vegetation that is kept in an area the more amount of
water can be captured therefore there is less water to overflow the surface. The slower the
water flows, the higher the water level therefore with the large increase in rainfall due to
the cyclone would have come in slowly and impacted the rise of the water level.
Queensland Floods
Climate Graph
A description of social, environmental and economic changes that have taken place due to
the occurrence of the natural hazard.
There are many social, environmental and economic changes that have taken place due to
the happening Queensland floods.
One main and obvious change that would have majorly affected the people of Queensland
socially after the floods would have been the loss of family, friends, possessions, homes and
more. The devastation of losing homes, communities, lives and discovering waterborne
diseases that lead to poor health would have been impacted the people of Queensland
majorly. For people living in rural areas it would have been frightening and devastating to
lose crops, stock and houses that may never be able to re build again. These floods were
known to have killed roughly 38 people and leave 9 people missing.
Deana Arbelaez
Geography Assessment
The environmental impact made on Queensland due to the floods was immense and life
changing for some of Queensland’s major cities. In a lot of natural systems floods a
responsible for maintaining key ecosystem functions. For many species floods cause
migration, dispersal and prevent breeding. Positively, many of the earth’s coastal resources
such as fish benefit from floods as they rely on the nutrients supplied from the land during
floods. The negative effects floods have on coastal locations are caused by pollution
entering these environments that often include metals and chemicals.
Economic consequences due to the Queensland floods would have impacted individuals and
the community significantly. The costs of these floods would have been a major stretch and
trouble for the government to provide as it would have been large amounts of money
needed to repair the damage caused by the floods. Flooding in some key agriculture areas
would have resulted in widespread damage to crops & fencing and loss of livestock. Damage
to public infrastructure would have been a major consequence and probably a greater
proportion of this was damaged rather than homes directly swamped by the floods.
An evaluation of what individuals, groups and governments have done in response to this
hazard. Include both immediate responses after the hazard has occurred and what
prevention strategies have been put in place.
In response to the Queensland floods many changes have been taken by individuals, groups
and governments to improve and assist in the re building on the communities that were
impacted by the natural disaster. They have created many new flood management plans to
assist in the prevention of future floods or to guide people in how to deal with them safely.
Due to these floods many volunteers and people of the public offered their help in order to
keep Queensland a safe environment for all throughout these floods. When this natural
hazard took place many donations were made to the communities and government of
Queensland in order to re build their homes and communities. Prevention strategies that
have been taken place are the floodplain management plans that instruct how you as a
citizen of Queensland can help in preventing the floods yourself.
A bibliography
Source
Site
Site
Site
Site
Site
Link/Name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932011_Queensland_floods
http://www.habitatadvocate.com.au/?p=13452
http://www.chiefscientist.qld.gov.au/publications/understandingfloods/factors.aspx
http://en.climate-data.org/location/29682/
http://www.chiefscientist.qld.gov.au/publications/understandingfloods/consequences.aspx
Date
29/8/13
2/9/13
6/9/13
6/9/13
6/9/13