REFECTIONS ON 2011 AND 2022 FLOOD EVENTS AND FUTURE EVENTS

A presentation by John Ruffini and Robert Ayre given on 25th May 2022

The talk was subtitled "Justice for the Engineers: The Dam Truth."

The presenters were part of the team that operated Somerset and Wivenhoe Dams during the 2011 flood events and that was subsequently involved in several enquiries followed by a class action in court.

The talk was well illustrated by slides including a number of cartoons that gave some relief to the gravity of the story.

The video of the full presentation can be viewed by clicking this link.

The slides from the talk can be viewed by clicking this link.

The presentation covered important topics including the following

• tension among the various needs in operating the storages to mitigate flood effects
• geography of dam locale
• relationship between catchments upstream and downstream of the dams
• spillway and gate design
• common misconceptions exhibited by pundits and public
• capacity of storages and assignment to water supply and flood pools
• political conflict over balance between water supply and flood pools
• operating philosophy and manuals
• division of ownership and responsibility among relevant government agencies
• limited communication with flood centre during flood events
• alleged long term forecast of flood rainfall
• totals and distribution of rainfall actually received
• four events requiring dam operation
• unique characteristics of January 2011 event
• comparison of 2011 flood with 1893, 1974, and 2022 floods
• true probability (AEP) of rainfall actually recieved compared with estimates from press and pundits
• reduction of potential flooding resulting from dam operation
• State Government Commission of Enquiry (two rounds)
• Criminal Misconduct Commission enquiry
• information held back from enquiries
• allegations of political interference in operation of dams
• independent review by professional engineers from US Bureau of Reclamation
• Brisbane River Catchment Flood Study 2013-2019
• class action by Morris Blackburn
• appeal by SEQWater
• differences in approaches of professional engineers and criminal lawyers
• effect of operations manual wording in making outlandish allegations possible
• cost of litigation
• proportions of damages going to lawyers and alleged flood victims