The Vice-Chancellor’s Engaged Research Initiative Assessing the regional economic impacts of flood interruption to transport corridors in Rockhampton John Rolfe, Rebecca Gowen, Susan Kinnear, Nicole Flint and Wilson Liu August 2011 Assessing the economic impacts of flood interruptions to transport corridors at Rockhampton ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project has been supported by research funds from CQUniversity Vice Chancellor’s Flood Initiative and Capricorn Tourism & Economic Development Ltd (trading as Capricorn Enterprise). Data for the project has been supplied by Capricorn Enterprise, the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads (QTMR), and the Rockhampton Regional Council (RRC). Particular thanks go to Mary Carroll (Capricorn Enterprise), Evan Pardon and Peter Priem (RRC) and Vincent Garty (QTMR) for helping to supply information and data for the project. Additional thanks go to the local business representatives who participated in the business survey. Publication Date: August 2011 Produced by: Sustainable Regional Development Programme Centre for Environmental Management Location: CQUniversity Australia Bruce Highway North Rockhampton 4702 Contact Details: Dr Susan Kinnear +61 7 4930 9336
[email protected] www.cem.cqu.edu.au 1 Assessing the economic impacts of flood interruptions to transport corridors in Rockhampton EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This study examined the economic costs of transport corridor closures at Rockhampton, Central Queensland, as a consequence of peak flooding in the Fitzroy River during January 2011. The floods in central Queensland caused a large number of direct economic impacts, including lost coal production, lost agricultural production, damaged infrastructure and the emergency response and avoidance costs. However, the floods also caused a variety of indirect costs, as those impacts and the interruption to business activities rippled through the local and state economy.