Preparing for the expected: cyclone threats

Abstract

The Gold Coast is a bustling region in South East Queensland with a large concentration of people and has dynamic and growing business and tourism activity. The region is subject to thunderstorms and tropical cyclones that can generate damaging winds. The Severe Wind Hazard Assessment for South East Queensland evaluates the risk posed by severe winds and has strategies for managing this risk (Edwards et al. 2022). Results from the most recent assessment showed that older residential houses were the most damaged by severe winds and that this contributed disproportionately to community risk. However, lessons from recent wind damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Seroja in Western Australia in 2021 indicated that modern house designs have important vulnerabilities. These findings are a concern for any exposed coastal area and, in particular, for South East Queensland. This paper presents a suite of scenarios developed to address this vulnerability. Specifically, we describe how emergency and disaster managers can conduct capability analyses with the goal to enhance intelligence and planning capabilities. An example of the City of Gold Coast was used to show how it has leveraged these capabilities to improve emergency risk-based planning and begin a community resilience transformation with effective places of refuge and evacuation centres for the community.