IGEM Report 1: 2017-18 - THE CYCLONE DEBBIE REVIEW

The Cyclone Debbie Review

The three concurrent events

South East Queensland – rapid-onset flooding

By Tuesday 28 March, as the impact of the cyclone was unfolding in Northern Queensland, many of the southern councils began their preparations. On Wednesday 29 March Debbie was downgraded to a tropical low. 44 Wind and rain intensified in the south east with the Bureau expecting widespread daily rainfall totals of 150 to 250mm, with significantly higher totals possible locally. 45 Drawing on experiences from previous cyclones many councils moved to “alert” and communities began preparing for the possibility of tidal surges and flooding.

A number of councils commenced community messaging. Requests for local staff to be deployed north were no longer approved to ensure local capacity was retained in the south east corner, and people and resources were pre-deployed into areas often isolated by flooding. Overview of South East Queensland local and district disaster management group activations and state activations; the matrix on the following page focuses on the period from 29 March in more detail. Data sourced from SDCC, local and district disaster management group reports and interviews

North Queensland

State-level operations

Central Queensland

South East Queensland

Group

sequence

Date, time

24 March, 10am

25 March, 10am

26 March, 2pm

27 March, 9am

28 March, 4.30am

28 March, 2pm

28 March, 7.15pm

29 March, 5am

29 March, 5pm

30 March, 1pm

31 March, 5am

31 March, 5pm

1 April, 5am

1 April, 1pm

2 April, 5am

2 April, 3pm

3 April, 5am

3 April, 5pm

4 April, 5am

4 April, 5pm

5 April. 5am

5 April, 5pm

6 April, 5am

6 April, 4pm

7 April, 5am

7 April, 4pm

8 April, 6am

9 April, 6am

10 April, 6am

10 April / 4pm

11 April / 6am

Bundaberg North Burnett Fraser Coast Gympie South Burnett Noosa Sunshine Coast Somerset Moreton Bay Gold Coast Scenic Rim Ipswich Lockyer Valley Toowoomba Southern Downs Western Downs Brisbane Redland Logan

Activation matrix key Alert Lean forward Stand up Stand down

LDMG

Maranoa Balonne

Bundaberg Maryborough Gympie Sunshine Coast

Redcliffe Brisbane Logan Gold Coast Ipswich Toowoomba Warwick SDCC, SDCG, QDMC

DDMG

55

4 THE THREE CONCURRENT EVENTS

South East Queensland – rapid-onset flooding: Map • Activations