@article {bnh-7824, title = {Flood risk communication - final project report}, number = {645}, year = {2021}, month = {01/2021}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

The context for the research

The\ focus of this research project was informed by the findings of earlier BNHCRC research that investigated human fatalities from natural disasters (Haynes et al., 2017). This project focused on the two behaviours most frequently associated with flood fatalities:

  1. Driving into floodwater in a motor vehicle, and
  2. Recreating in floodwater.

Although there were pockets of information and more detailed knowledge about these behaviours held in some jurisdictions, there was no national picture of either the details surrounding vehicle-related flood fatalities or the incidence of these two general behaviours and the detailed contexts in which the public enters floodwater. Therefore, by studying the general public more comprehensively, there was an opportunity to quantify behaviours and identify the potential challenges and additional levers for communicating flood risk, as well as enabling greater insight into differences across Australia (both within and across jurisdictions).

In addition, the information that was already known about behaviour in floodwater related solely to the general public. Emergency services, in particular State Emergency Services (SES) personnel, were previously identified as an at-risk group for entering floodwater and flood fatalities.

In the context of established approaches to the investigation of risk perception, comprehension, and risk-taking behaviour, SES personnel represent an {\textquoteleft}expert{\textquoteright} group. This meant they could also provide insights about risk perception and risk communication when studied and compared to the {\textquoteleft}lay public{\textquoteright} (expert-novice paradigm), for example enabling identification of differences in use of words/ language, conceptualisation of {\textquoteleft}flood{\textquoteright} and {\textquoteleft}flooded roads{\textquoteright}, and identification and use of environmental cues when judging flood risk.\ 

Finally, as a risk group there is an organisational imperative to study the behaviour of SES personnel entering floodwater when on/off duty. This research supports the evaluation, understanding, and provides opportunities to assist in the mitigation of a range of organisational risks, including

This project commenced in July 2017 and comprised broad two phases:

  1. Understanding behaviour in and around floodwater, and
  2. Collating flood risk communications and co-developing Community Service Announcements (CSAs) for flood for use in National broadcasting by the ABC.

Project strategy for research and collaboration

The research strategy involved a suite of research studies, and employed mixed qualitative and quantitative methods, including experimental research, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews employing a mental models approach to ensure the research problem is well understood, the needs of those at risk could be met, and knowledge is co-produced with end-users and community.

Consultation and collaboration with key stakeholders and various end-users were key aspects of the overall research approach and helped to determine the research foci through the lifetime of the project. Following this collaborative approach, the research was responsive to stakeholder contexts. This enabled the team to take advantage of opportunities to explore some new topics in greater depth (e.g., SES behaviours around floodwater), but has also meant there were some delays and changes to the planned research activities (e.g., being unable to progress some approaches and outputs due to COVID-19). As a consequence, some of the resulting outputs and projects differ to the outputs outlined at the start of the project.

Project overview - extending what is known and addressing the gaps

Previous research has established that floods in Australia are a significant, and often preventable, cause of death, and this research has provided some useful insights to the risk perceptions and planned behaviour among the public in relation to driving and floodwater (Fitzgerald, Du, Jamal, Clark, \& Hou, 2010; Hamilton, Peden, Pearson, \& Hagger, 2016; Haynes et al., 2017).

This project builds on existing knowledge in several important ways:

Overall, these various studies highlight some of the complexity and challenges in flood risk communication and flood risk assessment and factors that need to be considered when developing communication materials. The detailed nature of the data collected also provides insights to how interventions and flood risk communication and engagement work can be targeted.

A snapshot of key findings

As the project\ comprised a number of studies it also generated a substantial number of findings and insights. These have been condensed into a series of practitioner-focused Research into Practice Briefs. In addition, the BNHCRC Communications Team has developed a short series of videos to showcase some key research findings and augment these Briefs.

A snapshot of key findings across the various studies is provided below:

Areas for research utilisation

This\ project provides an in-depth understanding of how the public and emergency service professionals (SES) behave around, and understand the risks of, floodwater. The translation of these findings into utilisation and impact is an ongoing process that will continue beyond the formal end of the research.\ 

There are four main areas of research utilisation that are being pursued:

In addition\ to the above areas of potential and emerging utilisation, the project team has worked actively with end-users and a range of additional stakeholders to co-produce project outputs, including conference presentations (Taylor, Wiebusch, Tofa, Haynes; AFAC 2019) and co-authored peer-reviewed articles (Taylor, Tofa, Haynes, McLaren, Readman, Ferguson, Rundle, Rose, 2019).

Research Capacity Building

The\ research project team has also supported research capacity building through the mentoring and inclusion of students in research activities, including a successful PhD completion (Ahmed, 2019), five Masters of Organisational Psychology students, two psychology honours students, and a number of short-term research and engagement placements. The project funding has supported early career researchers (ECRs) and has enabled these ECRs and students to progress through co-authored peer-reviewed publications and utilisation outputs, i.e., Research into Practice Briefs.

}, keywords = {communication, communities, Flood, risk}, issn = {645}, author = {Mel Taylor and Matalena Tofa and Katharine Haynes} } @article {bnh-7473, title = {Vehicle-related flood fatalities in Australia, 2001{\textendash}2017}, journal = {Journal of Flood Risk Management}, volume = {13}, year = {2020}, month = {04/2020}, abstract = {

This study analyses the circumstances of vehicle-related flood fatalities between 2001 and 2017, in Australia. The research identified 96 deaths from 74 incidents during this period. The aim of this analysis is to understand the demographic, spatial and temporal patterns, and the situational conditions in which those (n\ = 96) deaths have occurred. This is important for informing efficient and strategic risk reduction strategies to reduce vehicle related deaths and injuries in floodwater. Data were accessed from the Australian National Coronial Information System (NCIS), which includes witness and police statements, forensic documents, and detailed coronial findings. Analysis was conducted in two phases. In phase one, data were coded and categorised according to a range of factors previously identified as significant in vehicle-related flood fatalities internationally. In phase two, a detailed analysis was conducted on 11 selected incidents for which there were complete sets of records. This detailed analysis provides insight into the multifaceted nature of fatal vehicle-related flood fatality incidents. The overall results reveal that, for drivers, middle-aged and elderly males are over-represented in the fatality statistics. As passengers, young women and children are vulnerable. The study also identified deep floodwater with high flow contributes more to vehicle immersion, and the presence of alcohol and drugs, leading to impaired responses, reduces the chance of survival for the vehicle occupants.

}, keywords = {driver, drowning fatalities, Flood, natural hazard, passenger vehicles}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1111/jfr3.12616}, url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jfr3.12616}, author = {Mozumdar Arifa Ahmed and Katharine Haynes and Mel Taylor} } @article {bnh-5831, title = {Building resilience through flood risk communication annual report 2018-2019}, number = {509}, year = {2019}, month = {09/2019}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

This project commenced in July 2017 and comprises two phases:

  1. Understanding behaviour in and around floodwater, and
  2. Evaluating flood risk communication materials and developing guidelines.

This project is based on the findings of earlier BNHCRC research that investigated human fatalities from natural disasters (Haynes et al., 2017). This project focuses on the two behaviours most frequently associated with flood fatalities:

  1. Driving into floodwater in a motor vehicle, and
  2. Recreating in floodwater.

The focus is on the at-risk groups identified from this earlier research including emergency services personnel, younger and older male drivers, and children and young adults who play in floodwater (Haynes et al., 2017).

The year 2 activities that have been undertaken include:

Work is now underway to transition to Phase 2 activities and to maximise project utilisation opportunities.

}, keywords = {communication, emergency management., Flood, resilience, risk, risk mitigation}, issn = {509}, author = {Mel Taylor and Katharine Haynes and Matalena Tofa} } @article {bnh-5476, title = {Flash flood fatalities in NSW, VIC, ACT and South East QLD from 1 January 2000 to 30 June 2017}, number = {470}, year = {2019}, month = {03/2019}, institution = {Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC}, address = {Melbourne}, abstract = {

In terms of lives lost, floods are second only to heatwaves (Coates, 1996; Coates et al 2014), and are one of the top three natural hazards in terms of cost and damage caused, disrupting the functioning of businesses and communities due to\ \ \  building\  \ and\  \ infrastructure\  \ damage.\  \ In\  \ terms\  \ of\  \ reducing\  \ human casualties, \ flash \ floods \ pose \ a \ unique \ challenge \ to \ emergency \ responders and emergency management. Consideration must be given to the efficacy of public education campaigns and warnings, the relative risks occupants face inside and outside the dwelling and the behaviour of individuals during flood events.

The current report builds on that carried out by Risk Frontiers for the New South Wales \ State \ Emergency\  Service \ [Haynes \ et \ al, \ 2009], \ which \ examined \ the fatality and injury record for Australian flash flood events from 1950 to 2008. It also continues the work done for the floods component of the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Co-operative Research Centre (BNHCRC) project, {\textquotedblleft}An analysis of human fatalities and building losses from natural disasters in Australia{\textquotedblright} [see Haynes et al, 2016]. The current research focuses on the circumstances surrounding fatalities resulting from flash flood events in New South Wales (NSW) from 1 January 2000 to 30 June 2017. To enable comparisons to be made, a few other jurisdictions were examined. The aim is to identify those most at risk and \ any \ trends \ in \ recent \ flash \ flood \ events \ in \ order\  \ to \ inform \ policy development by the NSW SES.

}, keywords = {Emergency management, Flood, flood management, health and safety, risk management}, author = {Coates, Lucinda and James O{\textquoteright}Brien and Andrew Gissing and Katharine Haynes and Rebecca D{\textquoteright}Arcy and Chloe Smith and Deirdre Radford} } @article {bnh-5042, title = {Driving into floodwater: A systematic review of risks, behaviour and mitigation}, journal = {International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction}, volume = {31}, year = {2018}, month = {10/2018}, pages = {10}, chapter = {953}, abstract = {

This systematic review summarises the findings of research focused on the risks associated with driving into floodwater. The review aims to compare and document the magnitude of the problem internationally; identifying the risk factors; exploring the application of theories and presence of theoretical models to explain people{\textquoteright}s risky behaviour; and documenting the intervention strategies utilised or proposed. Literature were searched from a number of databases (e.g. PsycInfo, ScienceDirect, Informit) for publication dates to 31 August 2017, then assessed based on their titles, abstracts and full texts and finally 24 articles were selected. This review compares flood fatality data from four countries (Australia, United States, Greece, and Sweden), groups identified risk factors from these selected studies into seven categories, and proposes a holistic integrated intervention model. The results of the review indicate that studies were predominantly conducted in Australia (10 studies) and USA (7 studies). People{\textquoteright}s decisions to drive into, or turn back from, floodwater are identified as a consequence of both their risk perception and the combined impact of all other factors (e.g. individual, social, environmental etc.) that interdependently contribute to shape decision-making, The theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) was the only theory that has been utilised within the literature to understand drivers{\textquoteright} willingness to take risks. Improving people{\textquoteright}s decision-making through educational initiatives, advanced structural mechanisms, regulating existing edicts, and regularly evaluating the effectiveness of current strategies are identified as the best approaches to addressing the challenges in this area. Findings suggest that future studies require data and analysis from a larger range of countries, more comparative analyses within and between countries, an exploration of the relationship between risk factors and their relative level of influence and a greater application of behavioural and decision making theories.

}, keywords = {Behavioural theories, Driving, Drowning, Fatalities, Flood, Risk factors, Risk mitigation measures, Risk perception, Vehicles}, doi = {10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.07.007}, url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212420918300323}, author = {Mel Taylor and Katharine Haynes and Mozumdar Arifa Ahmed} } @article {bnh-4676, title = {Flood levee influences on community preparedness: a paradox?}, journal = {Australian Journal of Emergency Management }, volume = {33}, year = {2018}, month = {07/2018}, pages = {5}, chapter = {39}, abstract = {

Flood levees are a commonly used method of flood protection. Previous research has proposed the concept of the {\textquoteleft}levee paradox{\textquoteright} to describe the situation whereby the construction of levees leads to a lowered community awareness of the risks of flooding and increased development in the {\textquoteleft}protected{\textquoteright} area. The consequences of this are the risks of larger losses in less frequent but deeper floods\ when levees overtop or fail. This paper uses the recent history of flooding and levee construction to investigate the {\textquoteleft}levee paradox{\textquoteright} through a study of flood preparedness and floodplain development in Lismore, NSW.

}, keywords = {communities, emergency management., Flood, levee, Preparedness}, url = {https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/ajem-jul-2018-flood-levee-influences-on-community-preparedness-a-paradox/}, author = {Andrew Gissing and Jonathan Van Leeuwen and Matalena Tofa and Katharine Haynes} }