Review of the 2010-11 flood warnings and response

Final report

• Neil Comrie
• Victorian Floods Review

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Report image: © Riverine Herald

08 December 2011Addressing many issues arising from the review's terms of reference, this report details 93 recommendations that would support necessary reform of the state's emergency management arrangements.

The report also highlights the commitment of Victoria's many paid and volunteer emergency service workers and the high level of community spirit that together will provide a strong foundation on which to build major reform.

The ultimate test of the efficacy of emergency management arrangements should always be the extent to which these arrangements deliver an acceptable measure of safety and security to the community. The most meaningful way to evaluate the efficacy of these arrangements is to examine their application in the management of a major emergency.

Victoria has been presented with such an opportunity as a consequence of two of the most serious natural disasters in Victoria’s history having occurred in the past two years. The Black Saturday bushfires of 7 February 2009 and the widespread floods of late 2010, early 2011, have severely tested Victoria’s emergency management arrangements. The learnings from these tragedies must not be lost. In undertaking this Review, the Victorian Floods Review (VFR) has considered all issues against the primary imperative of community safety and security.

Image:  © Riverine Herald
15 January 2011. Two water police stride across Rochester’s Victoria Street to the VICSES command headquarters which, although dry, was surrounded by water. A sandbagging operation was relocated from the nature strip earlier in the day as the flooding increased.