The experience of Gunnedah’s major flood events during 2021 and 2022 has profoundly changed the approach of the NSW State Emergency Service in the region.
NSW SES community capability officer Dave Rankine, who was in Gunnedah last weekend as part of the ‘Big Map’ flood information event, said important lessons have been learnt for the future.
“I think it was recognised after the last floods that the SES needed to lift its game in terms of flood response in Gunnedah,” he said.
“The community sentiment around response was it needed to stand up quicker, have more resources and advise the community earlier.
“We learnt a lot of lessons from the big peak 8.6m in 2021 and I think our response to the prolonged flooding in 2022 was certainly better.”
Speaking on behalf of the SES organisation region-wide, Mr Rankine said community-first approaches to flood events such as the ‘Big Map’ were a sobering reminder where the organisation fell short in previous years – instead of asking the community what it needed, the opposite occurred.
“If we reflected honestly on our work in 2021, we went out to the community and told them what they needed,” he said.
Since then, the SES has undergone a significant reorgansition of the service – particularly with the New England North West region’s move away from western zone.
The region now boasts a new command facility based in Tamworth. This is complemented with a 30-strong staff dedicated to managing disaster response across the region.
In the aftermath of Gunnedah’s flood events, the SES hosted its own community consultation sessions, forums and events to gauge areas of strength and deficiency.
Mr Rankine said there is now more inter-agency collaboration and importantly, more “community-led” approaches in disaster response.
The lessons learnt will help ensure the community is “better informed, better educated and hopefully better prepared” for the next flood event, which if weather forecast models are right, could be sooner than we think.
The trend is currently gravitating towards La Nina conditions and a wetter than average summer.
“The briefing we’ve had says that’s come late (La Nina),” Mr Rankine said.
The SES spokesperson had also heard reports that Australia could experience its first neutral climate pattern – neither overly wet or dry – in about 10 years.
Although floods could never be ruled out, he said the storm outlook is nowhere near the intensity of previous years.
“The La Nina signal is not nearly as strong as 2022 which bodes well for not prolonged (wet) conditions,” he said.
Spontaneous volunteering
As a volunteer-based organisation, the NSW SES is always on the search for alternative ways of meeting workforce demands.
During the last major flooding event, the Gunnedah region relied heavily on out-of-area teams.
Dave Rankine from the NSW SES estimated about 400 emergency service personnel were brought into Gunnedah from outside the area.
This storm season the NSW SES will be leaning heavily on its program of spontaneous volunteers.
This could involve the local footy club, bowls club or school sending volunteers to assist as spontaneous volunteers during a flood or other emergency.
Mr Rankine said Whitehaven Coal performed a similar role during the last flood – when the mines closed, the company sent staff to fill and distribute sandbags.
“That model has worked in the past so it’s about continuing that, so if the need comes, we have the volunteers,” he said.
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