Flood Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping: A Case Study for Australia’s Hawkesbury-Nepean Catchment

Abstract

Floods are one of the most destructive natural hazards to which Australia is exposed. The frequency of extreme rainfall events and consequential floods are projected to increase into the future as a result of anthropogenic climate change. This highlights the need for more holistic risk assessments of flood affected regions. Flood risk assessments (FRAs) are used to inform decision makers and stakeholders when creating mitigation and adaptation strategies for at-risk communities. When assessing flood risk, previous FRAs from Australia’s most flood prone regions were generally focused on the flood hazard itself, and rarely considering flood vulnerability (FV). This study assessed FV in one of Australia’s most flood prone regions—the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment, and investigated indicator-based approaches as a proxy method for Australian FV assessment instead of hydrological modelling. Four indicators were selected with the intention of representing environmental and socio-economic characteristics: elevation, degree of slope, index of relative socio-economic disadvantage (IRSD), and hydrologic soil groups (HSGs). It was found that combination of low elevation, low degree of slope, low IRSD score, and very-low infiltration soils resulted in very high levels of vulnerability. FV was shown to be at its highest in the Hawkesbury-Nepean valley flood plain region on the outskirts of Greater Western Sydney, particularly in Blacktown, Penrith, and Liverpool. This actionable risk data which resulted from the final FV index supported the practicality and serviceability of the proxy indicator-based approach. The developed methodology for FV assessment is replicable and has the potential to help inform decision makers of flood-prone communities in Australia, particularly in data scarce areas.