East Gippsland Floodplain Management Strategy Acknowledgement of Country We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land and waters to which this Plan refers and their long and continuing relationship with Country. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present. Published by: East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, 574 Main Street, Bairnsdale. Victoria 3875 © East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, 2017. Copyright This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. The material in this publication can be copied, printed and displayed in an unmodified form for personal use, or by educational institutions, government departments and natural resource agencies and groups for non- commercial purposes. The source should be acknowledged. Please cite this document as: EGCMA (2017) East Gippsland Floodplain Management Strategy, East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority, Bairnsdale. Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and the East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims any liability for any error, loss or other consequence that may arise from you relying on the information in this publication. Digital information is reproduced in this document with the permission of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. The State of Victoria and the East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority do not warrant the accuracy or completeness of information in this product. Reproduction of this information without permission of the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning is prohibited. Except where otherwise noted, all photos and maps courtesy of East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority. Table of contents 1 Strategic context ............................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Purpose of the EGFMS............................................................................................ 1 1.2 Floodplains of the East Gippsland region ................................................................. 1 1.2.1 Value of floodplains .......................................................................................... 2 1.2.2 A history of floods in East Gippsland ................................................................. 3 1.2.3 Floods in East Gippsland in the future............................................................... 3 1.2.4 Floodplain management ................................................................................... 3 1.3 Relationship to other plans and strategies................................................................ 6 1.3.1 National ............................................................................................................ 6 1.3.2 Victorian Floodplain Management Strategy ....................................................... 7 1.3.3 Regional plans and strategies ........................................................................... 7 1.3.4 Local and municipal strategies .......................................................................... 8 1.4 How this strategy was developed ............................................................................. 8 1.4.1 Principles ......................................................................................................... 9 1.4.2 Communication and engagement ..................................................................... 9 2 Regional risk assessment ............................................................................................. 11 2.1 Method .................................................................................................................. 11 2.1.1 How do floods create risk?.............................................................................. 11 2.1.2 Rapid Appraisal .............................................................................................. 11 2.1.3 Stakeholder involvement ................................................................................ 14 2.2 Flood risks in East Gippsland ................................................................................ 14 2.2.1 Regional scale flood risks ............................................................................... 16 2.2.2 Gippsland Lakes flood risks ............................................................................ 17 2.2.3 Lowland flood risks ......................................................................................... 18 2.2.4 Upland flood risks ........................................................................................... 19 3 Analysing risk treatment service levels ......................................................................... 20 3.1 Method .................................................................................................................. 20 3.1.1 What are we already doing versus what needs to be done? ............................ 20 3.1.2 Understanding existing mitigation measures ................................................... 20 3.2 Overview of mitigation in East Gippsland ............................................................... 21 3.2.1 Structural flood mitigation ............................................................................... 21 3.2.2 Planning scheme controls ............................................................................... 21 3.2.3 Total Flood Warning System (TFWS) services ................................................ 22 3.2.4 Municipal Emergency Management Plans ...................................................... 23 3.3 Mitigation and residual risk .................................................................................... 24 3.3.1 Gippsland Lakes............................................................................................. 24 3.3.2 Lowlands ........................................................................................................ 26 3.3.3 Uplands .......................................................................................................... 28 4 Development and improvement plan............................................................................. 29 4.1 Method .................................................................................................................. 29 4.1.1 Prioritisation process for mitigation measures ................................................. 29 4.1.2 Stakeholder engagement ................................................................................ 29 4.2 Region-wide component of the Development and Improvement Plan ..................... 30 4.2.1 Region-wide component of the Development and Improvement Plan .............. 31 4.2.2 Gippsland Lakes component of the Development and Improvement Plan ....... 32 4.2.3 Uplands component of the Development and Improvement Plan..................... 33 4.2.4 Lowlands component of the Development and Improvement Plan ................... 33 5 Monitoring, evaluation, review and improvement........................................................... 34 5.1 Monitoring and evaluation ...................................................................................... 34 5.1.1 MERI Fundamentals ....................................................................................... 34 5.1.2 Program logic ................................................................................................. 34 5.1.3 Monitoring ...................................................................................................... 36 5.1.4 Key evaluation questions, indicators and data sources ................................... 36 5.2 Reporting and improvement................................................................................... 37 5.2.1 Reporting ....................................................................................................... 37 5.2.2 Improvement .................................................................................................. 37 5.3 MERI Implementation ............................................................................................ 37 5.3.1 Evaluation timeline ......................................................................................... 37 5.3.2 East Gippsland Floodplain Committee ............................................................ 38 Appendix A: Risk assessment outputs ................................................................................. 39 Appendix B: Mitigation measures by management unit ........................................................ 42 Appendix C: Cross reference of actions objectives............................................................... 57 Acronyms AAD Average Annual Damage AEM Australian Emergency Manual AEP Annual Exceedance Probability AHD Australian Height Datum BoM Bureau of Meteorology CMA Catchment Management Authority CoAG Council of Australian Governments DELWP Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning ECLs East Coast Lows EGFC East Gippsland Floodplain Committee EGFMS East Gippsland Floodplain Management Strategy EGCMA East Gippsland Catchment Management Authority EGSC East Gippsland Shire Council EMA Emergency Management Australia EMV Emergency Management Victoria FEP Flood Emergency Plan KEQ Key Evaluation