CFAST: Modelling and visualisation to improve flood adaptation planning processes in coastal cities

ABSTRACT

The inundation of coastal cities during extreme weather events is of concern to many communities around Australia. Until recently, flood modelling studies have had a significant focus on the hazard of the flood waters itself and less of a focus on simulating the impact of multitude of adaptation measures in an integrated system which can used by for local government drainage engineers. Such tools are required for evaluating complex future flood adaptation strategies, especially in a coastal cities context (such as the design of sea walls or the installation of backflow valves in storm drainage), where climate change related flooding including sea level rise interacts with short term tidal and catchment induced flooding. Additionally, having tightly integrated visualisation capabilities improves the quality of flood analysis and also the effectiveness of communication to regional and community stakeholders. This paper describes the CFAST flood modelling software developed by CSIRO and highlights its use in three coastal regions seeking to improve their flood adaptation planning processes.