Australia’s coastal inundation risk is growing with rising sea levels, changes to climate and weather patterns and increasing coastal development. To better inform and support local communities, a statewide inundation assessment has been undertaken as part of the CoastWA program, through a partnership between Department of Transport (DoT) and Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage (DPLH). The study maps the potential inundation threat during the next 25 years, determining the risk to coastal communities and examining pathways to manage the threat.
inundation: corresponds approximately to a 25-year ARI water level. Extreme inundation: corresponds approximately to a 100-year Annual Recurrence Interval (ARI) water level. Extreme +0.9m inundation: is shown to demonstrate relative sensitivity of inundation to other contributing factors, including uncertainty about inundation levels, wave components, or mean sea level change.
The study examined the potential scale and extent of coastal inundation over the short to medium term across 45 coastal local government areas and identified 23 at risk locations – Bunbury, Busselton and Carnarvon were identified as the most vulnerable areas.
The study identifies targeted actions for managing inundation hazards at the 23 locations that will support and benefit future studies, works and local government Coastal Hazard Risk Management and Adaptation Plans (CHRMAP). The information can also be used by local managers to help secure funding through CoastWA grants programs and the Commonwealth’s Disaster Ready Fund. The full inundation assessment report can be found on the DoT’s website here.
Story supplied by Michaela Pilossof, Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage.