JCU wants your flood pics and videos

Dr Hanshe Lim is a lecturer in hydrology at JCU. She said the rainfall in Cairns was slightly bigger than a 1 in 100 year event.

“We are always trying to predict the depth and extent of 1 in 100 year events without actual flood data to validate our models. So the rain storm we’ve just had is exactly the kind of event we want to extract ground data from so we can validate our models,” said Dr Lim.

She said information such as flood depth and location can be used to produce a map of flood inundation, which can be used to check flood models of Cairns and the Barron River catchment, increase awareness of impacts of floods and for future design and planning.

“We’ve put together a site where people can upload their videos and photos and answer a few quick questions,” said Dr Lim.

She said the questions include the location, date, and time of the images, roughly how deep the water was, and any additional information about the state of the water such as speed, debris, etc.

“If people want to be kept informed of the progress of the study we’ll be happy to do that. This work is aided by the community and will benefit the community and we want everyone to share in what we are doing,” said Dr Lim.

The survey can be accessed at: https://www.jcu.edu.au/flood-survey

Or by contacting Hanshe Lim (hanshe.lim@jcu.edu.au) or Karen Joyce (karen.joyce@jcu.edu.au)