Hobart’s stormwater infrastructure includes a diverse range of open waterways, litter and sediment traps, culverts, drains and gutters to protect us from flooding events.  Stormwater infrastructure can only hold so much.  To protect our vibrant communities from the impacts of flash flooding and landslide (debris flow) events during high rainfall, CES-Lab aims to guide and develop near-future solutions for Hobart’s stormwater infrastructure.

CES-Lab has obtained Tasmania State Emergency Service competitive funding (total project value of $251,000) to assess the feasibility and performance of combined stormwater/landslide protection systems for Southern Tasmania.  The work conducted will use state-of-the-art predictive modelling to explore the impacts of various changes to stormwater infrastructure on both hazards. By understanding the interplay between flood water, debris flows, and stormwater infrastructure, this work will quantify the benefits of various structures in protecting against both types of channelised flow.  The funding leverages the ongoing work conducted by CES-Lab under Drs Gholamreza Kefayati, Ali Tolooiyan and Ashley Dyson in combined flood and landslide protection systems.