Flood modellers have been given access to “more reliable and robust data than ever before”, following the release of a major update.

Experts at Geoscience Australia and Engineers Australia have today unveiled the latest version of Australian Rainfall and Runoff – a national guideline document, data and software suite.

Geoscience Australia Chief of Positioning and Community Safety Andy Barnicoat says today’s update follows a major overhaul three years ago.

“In 2016, we released the most comprehensive update to Australian Rainfall and Runoff in three decades.

“Working with Engineers Australia, we added an additional 30 years of data collected from across Australia, including observations from more than 10,000 rainfall gauges and 100,000 storm events.

“Since 2016, we’ve been gathering feedback from the users of Australian Rainfall and Runoff. The improvements we’ve made in the 2019 update reflect their requirements.”

He says the update is essential for reliable estimates of flood risk, which help ensure “safety and sustainability” of infrastructure, communities and the environment.

This includes “making sure new developments are located in safer areas and new infrastructure, such as roads and bridges, are designed appropriately”.

Engineers Australia Registrar Glen Crawley says the update gives flood modellers greater confidence.

“The methods for modelling floods in complex urban environments have been finalised,” he said.

“These methods now allow the modeller to retain stormwater within urban landscapes, manage stormwater quality, maximise the potential of the stormwater resource and to slow flows into receiving waterways.

“The methodology for calculating design rainfalls and river-flows for future scenarios has been updated.

“The methodology for extreme rainfalls now reflects differences required for use in dam studies, and floodplain management.

“As an input to hydrodynamic models, this update will help modellers to more accurately predict where flood will occur and the potential impact.”

Dr Barnicoat says the project is an example of public and private sectors working together to “help make our communities more flood safe”.

“The Queensland floods from earlier this year, which inundated Townsville homes and killed masses of cattle in the state’s north-west, were a timely reminder of just how destructive these type of events can be,” he said.

“Australian Rainfall and Runoff 2019 provides quality guidance for policy decisions and projects involving essential infrastructure such as transport and water. It also contributes to more effective town planning and better delivery of flood warnings.

“We know that a lot of flood modellers are already using the new Australian Rainfall and Runoff but we think it also has the potential to be a useful tool for professional engineers and planners, particularly those within local government.”

Web and PDF versions of Australian Rainfall and Runoff 2019 are available here.