About the Project
Muswellbrook Shire Council is developing a design for a Flood Warning System (FWS) that will provide residents adjacent to Muscle Creek timely and sufficient warnings in order to better prepare and respond to flood events and reduce the potential for loss of life from future flood events.
This page provides an introduction to the proposed FWS and how the system can be developed to assist you. We would like you to complete a survey to help inform the design of the flood warning system.
Why do we need the Muscle Creek Flood Warning System?
The proposed Muscle Creek FWS would provide advance warning of imminent flood events, allowing residents to take action to safely evacuate flood prone areas and minimise loss. It would provide advance warning of road and bridge closures, which would assist in the pre-deployment of emergency services to the southern areas of Muswellbrook. With early warnings, the community which might be potentially impacted could better prepare for safe evacuation before the peak of the flooding events.
Community Consultation: Have Your Say
The local knowledge of residents and business operators, including personal experiences of flooding, is a valuable source of information. Accordingly, we want your opinions on potential flood warning communication options.
Interested members of the community are invited to fill out the Flood Warning Communication Options Survey which is available on Council’s website and will be mailed to certain properties. The survey, and any other comments, can be submitted in writing by no later than 28 February 2022 to:
Kellie Scholes, Muswellbrook Shire Council
PO Box 122, Muswellbrook, NSW, 2333
Or via email at council@muswellbrook.nsw.gov.au
You will have further opportunities to ask questions and comment on the study during a community work shop to be held in February 2022.
Further details of the workshop will be provided on Council’s website and advertised in the local newspaper at least 3 weeks prior to the meeting.
What is the Muscle Creek FWS?
The proposed FWS will be based on rainfall data and Muscle Creek water level data collected from a number of locally integrated rainfall and stream gauges. It would monitor and process the data and transmit a real time flood forecast to the Emergency Management Agencies. The forecast would include the areas likely to be affected, potential severity and action advice for the predicted flood risk. When predictions exceed the flood level warning threshold, the emergency agencies and the Muswellbrook Shire Council will disseminate warnings to the potentially affected community through appropriate communication pathways.
This is a preliminary concept of the FWS, the final design will be determined based on preference of stakeholders.
In June 2007, flood waters spilt over Bell Street and flowed through residential areas located between Bell Street and Wilder Street before re-entering the channel. In November 2021, flood waters covered the Bridge Street subway and caused road closures at the Muscle Creek area. Modelling results show if a Muscle Creek flood event occurs in conjunction with a Hunter River flood event, Bridge Street would be inundated in the 20% AEP (5yr ARI) and Bell Street would likely be overtopped in the 5% AEP (20yr ARI). In the 1% AEP (100yr ARI), the estimated key flood prone areas are displayed in Figure 1.
How Should We Communicate Flood Warnings?
Warning messages should be disseminated in a variety of ways to maximise the chance to provide effective and timely warnings to as many people as possible, in order to minimise the negative impacts due to Muscle Creek flooding. Warning systems work best when they are designed to meet the needs of the of users. The capacity of individuals to receive or respond to warnings may vary with different commitments. We would like to hear your opinion about preferred communication options via the survey, so we can design the most suitable FWS for the Muscle Creek community.
The available communication options include:
| Options | Pros and Cons |
|---|---|
| Door Knocking | Direct and specific communication, chance to ask questions, slow and resource intensive, required access to flooded area |
| Speaker Phone | Direct specific communication, required access to flooded area, difficult to hear |
| Warning Sirens / Alarm | Quick and reliable, more versatile with voice and remote capabilities, limited information and reach, can be difficult to hear if inside |
| Telephone | Can reach areas with no internet access or with poor mobile phone coverage and residents who do not have smart phones, landline required, limited reach because people often not at home |
| SMS (Text Message) | Can reach wide audience very quickly, can be automated based on trigger level and target audience nearby, less reliable for areas with poor mobile phone coverage |
| Quick dissemination, need to be actively accessed, internet required | |
| Radio | Widest reach – home, work, travelling, can communicate detailed information to large audiences, requires public to be listening |
| TV | Can communicate detailed information to large audiences, capacity for images and medias, electricity required, limited reach, requires public to be listening |
| Website / Social Media | Quick dissemination, becoming very widespread, capacity for images and media, channels include social media, dedicated flood information website, mobile app, mobile phone data or fixed internet required |
What would the future flooding events be like?
The future is likely to see an increase in flood risk due to climate change. CSIRO research indicates that Australia is likely to become warmer over the coming decades, and higher ocean water and air temperatures increase the possibility for evaporation and therefore cloud formation. At higher temperatures the air can hold more moisture content, which can lead to a potential increase in precipitation intensity, duration and frequency.
It is clear that we need to be prepared to face higher flood risk due to climate change. The Muscle Creek FWS could help reduce the risk to life and property from rapidly rising floodwaters and help solve the current evacuation problems in the flood prone areas due to the limited warning for flash flood events.
Muscle Creek FWS Process
Council’s Floodplain Risk Management Committee (the Committee) meets regularly and includes representatives from Council, NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment (DPIE), State Emergency Service (SES) and the local community.
The Committee will oversee the flood warning system project which is staged as follows:
- Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan
- Engage consultant to investigate FWS
- Investigate FWS options
- Community consultation to provide education and investigative FWS communication options
- FWS System design
- FWS tender and installation
- Implementation of FWS
For further information regarding the project, please contact Muswellbrook Shire Council:
| Kellie Scholes |
| Muswellbrook Shire Council |
| P: (02) 6549 3700 |
| E: council@muswellbrook.nsw.gov.au |
| Rohan Hudson |
| Royal HaskoningDHV |
| P: (02) 4926 9506 |
| E: Rohan.Hudson@rhdhv.com |
Flood Warning Communication Options Survey
Muswellbrook Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan
