Eastern Australia experienced its “fifth major wave of flooding over a 19-month period between March 2021 and October 2022” (Klein, 2022). During this extended period of flooding, The World Economic Forum (2023) identified the need to “think beyond emergency management to build long-term resilience within agencies and communities”.

As the climate and demographics of Australia’s population evolves and changes, emergency managers will need to address the opportunities and challenges distinct to their geography including “rapid regional population growth, an aging emergency service workforce and volunteer base and strengthen engagement with diverse communities to improve community flood resilience” (EMV, 2024).

Stantec and the Western Downs Regional Council collaborated recently to improve operational decision making and support community resilience across six (6) local townships through the introduction of town-based Flood Response Guides (FRGs) that aimed to:
• Document all operational activities Council undertake and the triggers for their commencement;
• Identify key areas of vulnerability in the townships through the documentation of flood history and available flood mapping;
• Leverage existing services and arrangements at the state and federal level to ensure effective response is achieved.

Essential to the success of the FRGs has been:
• Collating data and information to inform the FRGs from a variety of sources;
• Leveraging this data and information and create flood intelligence via the establishment of flood triggers linked to actions; and
• The development of innovative, accessible and intuitive decision support tools

Key findings from the FRGs developed for the Western Downs Region include:
• Shift the emphasis from risk identification to risk management;
• FRGs could be adapted to fit the needs of other townships; and
• Decision support tools can simultaneously enhance operational readiness and community resilience.