Flood Risk Reports – helping local communities and businesses to understand property risks from coastal erosion, storm tide inundation and river floods in coastal areas

Dr Marcello Sano1,2, Ms Gaelle Faivre1, Professor Rodger Tomlinson1

1Griffith Centre For Coastal Management , Southport, Australia, 2Flood Risk Reports Pty Ltd, Byron Bay, Australia

Abstract

Detailed and high-resolution flood information, both from coastal inundation and rivers, is becoming critical to inform home buyers, the real estate industry (including building & pest inspection industry) and insurance companies of the risks of extreme events now and into the future. As part of as part of a private-public collaboration between Griffith Centre for Coastal Management and FloodRiskReport, a local tech startup, this research project is looking at the feasibility and market size of a B2C (Business to Consumer) service providing homeowners and businesses with up-to-date, reliable and understandable information on the risk of coastal and riverine flood at the property level. A Flood Risk Score model has been developed based on the requirements of NSW and QLD and tested for the Tweed Shire Council and the City of Gold Coast. The aim of the project is to understand the technical feasibility and costs of such a service and to profile the market and end users in Australia.

Biography

Dr. Sanò has more than a decade of experience in coastal science and management and climatic risks in coastal areas. He has international experience in research, consultancy and capacity building with projects in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, North Africa, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Chile and Peru. He has developed approaches and worked on projects in coastal planning and management, climate change and coastal hazard risk adaptation, systems thinking and modeling, socio-economic studies and stakeholder engagement. He holds a PhD from the the University of Cantabria, Spain and a MSc in Marine and Environmental Science from the University of Genoa, Italy. Dr. Sanò joined the Griffith Centre for Coastal Management in Australia in 2010. He is the lead author of the Queensland’s Compendium of Coastal Hazard Adaptation Options (2012) and of the Guidelines for the preparation of Coastal Hazard Adaptation Strategies for Queensland Costal Councils (2016).