Taking protective action during floods and storms

Public safety messages for floods and storms are being broadcast on ABC Radio this severe weather season, backed by Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research.

Comprising of 26 different Community Service Announcements (CSAs), these messages are the first-ever nationally agreed set of public flood and storm risk announcements, having been endorsed in doctrine by AFAC.

The final set of CSAs are designed to provide communities with information and advice about protective actions they can take when threatened or impacted by floods and severe storms.

Utilising the findings from the CRC’s Flood risk communication project, the development of the 26 nationally consistent CSAs was led by Hon A/Prof Mel Taylor at Macquarie University. The project was facilitated and supported by AFAC through the AFAC SES Community Safety Group.

AFAC Director Risk and Resilience, Amanda Leck, said developing this messaging is a significant achievement for the emergency services sector.

“These messages will minimise harm and save lives by ensuring that the ABC is able to communicate key messages to impacted communities during floods,” she said.

“The fact that these messages are based on research and evidence has meant that emergency services agencies across Australia have been willing and able to collaborate to achieve these nationally consistent messages.”

The 26 CSAs cover a range of topics, including:

• six related to different risks and contexts associated with driving in floods
• four related to playing in floodwater — these are the behaviours most associated with flood fatalities
• four related to animal ownership
• four that provide information about the meanings or nature of warnings and alerts
• eight include issues around home preparation, safety considerations when cleaning up after flooding, information about what to do if you are trapped by rising floodwater or are considering staying when advised to leave, and messages about flash flooding and the implications of flooding upstream.

A/Prof Taylor said this project was an excellent example of collaboration across the emergency management sector to produce research-backed outputs to increase public safety.

“As a researcher, it has been a great experience to work with such an engaged set of stakeholders and end-users to translate research findings into outputs that will help protect communities,” she said.

“It was really exciting to hear our messages produced professionally and slotted into the ABC emergency intro and outro wording, ready for use!”

The full suite of CSAs has been recorded by the ABC and has now been distributed to ABC Radio teams around Australia. They are available for use by the ABC’s local on-air teams when appropriate and begun being broadcast in November.

“With the early start to flooding events, these CSAs couldn’t have been completed at a better time,” said Patrick Hession, Emergency Broadcast Lead at the ABC.

“This process has given me a much greater understanding of the thought processes that people might go through when they are making potentially risky decisions. Messages were informed by research to better argue against the temptation or motivation that people might have to make risky choices. It’s been a great experience.”

The full set of CSAs are available in the AFAC doctrine, National Community Safety Announcements for flood risk communication. Read more about the development of the CSAs in the case study and the final report.

Download the Research into practice brief series for concise summaries of the Flood risk communication research findings.