One in one hundred year flood would cause $418m damage in Adelaide
If the same rain which flooded the state’s west hit Adelaide today, the city would be left with an estimated $418m damage bill, new modelling shows.
SA News
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Damage totalling an estimated $418.5m would be caused in Adelaide’s western suburbs by an one-in-100-year flood, a report has found.
Federal funding of $70m is being sought to complete the final two stages of the Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Project, aimed at stopping thousands of properties from being inundated through flood mitigation.
Work is well advanced on the project’s biggest basins at Victoria Park, which were prematurely filled this week by heavy rainfall which caused widespread flooding across the west of the state.
Project director Peta Mantzarapis said new modelling had shown the basins and improved drainage through the Brownhill Creek and Keswick Creek catchments had the potential to prevent serious damage to 3935 properties, including Ashford Hospital, Adelaide Airport and the Keswick Army Barracks, if a similar weather event hit the metropolitan Adelaide area.
Ms Mantzarapis said while local and state government funding totalling $140m over 20 years had been secured for the $228m project, no federal money had been provided.
“If last weekend’s floods have shown us anything, it’s how vital it is that this infrastructure work is delivered as quickly as possible, especially with the uncertainties and complexity of a changing climate,” she said.
“This flood could come at any time and it would be an economic disaster depending on its severity.
“Any additional support will mean it can happen faster, hence why we are reaching out to the federal government.”
Ms Mantzarapis said the proposed two, six-lane tunnels from Torrensville to Clovelly Park had increased the need to complete drainage across South Rd before concrete walls were built.
A submission seeking federal funding said the “underlying flood risk would be exacerbated if the Torrens to Darlington section of the North-South Corridor Project proceeds significantly ahead of the flood mitigation works.
“(This was because) the design for the lowered motorway is required to incorporate a physical barrier on its upstream (eastern) side to prevent floodwater egress,’ it said.
The submission said completing the project earlier than scheduled would reduce the estimated damage bill of $418.5m to $7.5m. “Fifty seven per cent of the damage estimates are direct property damage but indirect benefits (business interruption, traffic disruption, social and environmental impacts) add significantly to the total,” it said.
Ms Mantzarapis said federal support would enable the project to be finished by 2032, instead of the expected completion date of 2037.
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