Evaluation of Woronora Valley flood preparedness program effectiveness : final report for Emergency Management Australia / by Molino Stewart.

EMA Project 04/2003

Includes bibliography p. 98-100.

1. Introduction -- 2. The context -- 3. The flood preparedness strategy -- 4. Strategy evaluation -- 5. Pre strategy survey -- 6. Information delivery -- 7. Post strategy survey -- 8. Comparison with the pre-strategy survey -- 9. Comparison with flood education in other communities -- 10. Findings -- 11. Recommendations for further research -- 12. List of people contacted -- 13. Project funding sources and expenditure.

"The Woronora River is located in southern Sydney and runs through a narrow floodplain along its final 11 kilometres. Most of the development in this area is concentrated around the suburb of Woronora. However, other development is the floodplain occurs in the suburbs of Bonnet Bay, Como, Illawong and the estates of Deepwater Estate and Shackleton Estate. In a Probable Maximum Flood it is estimated that up to 500 houses in the floodplain would experience above floor flooding. Subsequent to the preparation of the Woronora Floodplain Management plan, Molino Stewart prepared a Community Preparedness Strategy for Sutherland Shire Council in November 1998. This strategy recommended measures to communicate key flood preparedness messages to the Woronora Valley community. Counci began implementing some of the measures detailed in the Strategy in 1999 but has not evaluated the program to determine the effectiveness of the measures in communicating the key messages. This project evaluted the effectiveness of the Strategy implementation by: Reviewing the measures implemented by Council and other floodplain information available to residents and comparing it to similar strategies and their evaluation in Australia and overseas; Undertaking a survey of resident within the floodplain exposed to the messages of the strategy to determine the extent of awareness, comprehension and action regarding floodplain management issues; and Analysing the research and survey data to identify the most and least successful measures and to identify opportunities for improving communication about floodplain management. The project will be beneficial in providing Council, the New South Wales (NSW) State Emergency Service (SES) and other flood prone communities with information about the effectiveness of different education strategies." --p. 1-2.