Weather in SE Queensland, what is the future after this year with La Niña?

How did you go during the heavy rains in early April? Was this “just a lot of water coming down”, or did it bring back memories of the serious floods in Brisbane 10 years ago?

La Niña is a period when the oceans around Australia are warmer than normal which enhances the evaporation and moisture to the atmosphere. It was building up in the first few months of 2020 but is now returning to normal weather conditions.

Luckily we didn’t have the heavy conditions this year as we did back in 2011. Despite this, Brisbane and Queensland remain vulnerable for extreme weather conditions and the effects they have on our region. For the Dutch Chamber of Commerce this is an interesting topic, as The Netherlands has a long history of fighting the water.

We have invited three specialist guest speakers who will shine their light on how Brisbane and SE Queensland have dealt with the extreme wet weather conditions in the past, and what we can expect in the future.

Piet Filet will explore the journey of Brisbane – from an opportunistic settlement to now a City on a floodable floodplain. Does the community build to defend, adapt or retreat? Piet will discuss the options and the choices we need to make to transition over the next 100 years to a safe and resilient community.

William Prentice will share his experience on the evolution of flood risk management over the past decade, and how flood modelling helps the industry better understand flood hazards and effectively prevent, prepare for and respond to flood events. William will provide insights to what is known about current and future flood hazards and opportunities for sustainable floodplain management.

Charlotte Spliethoff will talk about flood risk management in the broader context of disaster resilience and the role of the government in this space. She will also talk about how this fits within the strategic policy agenda from the local to the global level.

The Program

5.30pm for a 6.00pm start.

6.00pm – 6.10pm    Welcome
6.05pm – 6.30pm    Piet Filet
6.30pm – 6.55pm    William Prentice
6.55pm – 7.15pm    Networking
7.15pm – 7.40pm    Charlotte Spliethoff
7.40pm – 8.00pm    Q&A with panel
8.00pm – 8.45pm      Networking

Our Speaker

Piet Filet Engagement and Collaboration Specialist at International Water Centre

Piet Filet is an Engagement Collaboration Specialist currently working out of Griffith University where he convenes two practitioners’ networks – one on flood resilience building and another on the use of water modelling tools. He his early career was in agricultural ecology, then moved to local government where all things water became a focus.

William Prentice Technical Director, Flood Risk at Jeremy Benn Pacific (JBPacific)

William Prentice is a flood risk management specialist with over 12 years’ experience in the private and public sectors. Working across Australia and internationally, he has delivered over $500m of strategic floodplain management and community resilience projects, $400m of flood infrastructure planning and $25m of disaster resilience and recovery works. William has been awarded two National Emergency Medals for the 2010/11 Brisbane Floods and 2017 Logan River floods and is an Executive of Floodplain Management Australia – the industry body responsible for advocacy and development of best practice floodplain management across Australia.

Charlotte Spliethoff Manager Flood Risk Policies and Projects at Queensland Reconstruction Authority

Charlotte Spliethoff started her career in the Netherlands designing levees. She moved to Brisbane in 2012, where she joined Royal Haskoning DHV leading all their water-related activities in Queensland. Between 2013-2015 she was the local liaison officer for the Dutch Partners in International Business covenant to promote collaboration between the Netherlands and Queensland on delta management. Charlotte started with QRA in November.