A One in 2000 Year Flood
Seminar Date: 29 May 2006
During May and June this year, ICE WaRM in conjunction with UniSA hosted leading researcher Dr Kapil Gupta through the International Liaison Programme. Dr Gupta was a keynote speaker at the seminar, offering a presentation on the likely implications of a flood on the scale of the Mumbai floods of 2005 occurring in Adelaide. The seminar was most successful, with over 70 attendees. Other keynote speakers at the seminar were Christopher Wright, Hydrology Manager of the Bureau of Meteorology, and Dr David Kemp, Senior Stormwater Engineer from the Infrastructure Division of the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure.
2005 Mumbai City Flood
Dr Kapil Gupta's presentation focussed on the 2005 Mumbai city flood. With an area of 437 sq km and a population of 12 million, Mumbai came to a complete halt due to the unprecedented rainfall of 994 mm during the hours starting 0830 on 26 July 2005; with 380 mm falling in just 3 hours between 1430 to 1730 and hourly rainfall exceeding 190 mm/h. At least 419 people (and 16,000 cattle) were killed due to the ensuing flash floods and landslides in the Mumbai Municipal area, and another 216 due to flood related illnesses. Over 100,000 residential and commercial establishments and 30,000 vehicles were damaged.
Raising Community Awareness of Flood Risk
Chris Wright focussed his presentation on the need for raising community awareness about the risks of potential flooding, developing emergency response programs to act in the event of floods occurring and the associated challenges.
Modelling of Extreme Flood Events in South Australia
Dr David Kemp looked at flooding in relation to South Australia, based on a discussion of the standard methods of flood prediction and the problems that arise from the type of modelling currently used, using specific South Australian examples to demonstrate his purpose.
