The aim of this project is to identify for selected caravan parks in coastal NSW the nature and scale of the flood threat and to suggest strategies for management of the problem. A coarse but possibly conservative estimate suggests that perhaps two-thirds of the State’s 896 registered caravan parks are flood-liable, where flooding is defined as an overflowing of water onto land not usually submerged, and includesfloods rarer than the 1% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) event.
Among the 139 people who died in the flash flood of 31 July 1976 at Big Thompson Canyon, Colorado, were anumber of campers (Gruntfest, 1977). Flash floods have also contributed to large death tolls at camp-sites in Europe, including 23 at Grand Bornard, France, in 1987 (Meunier, 1990), and 87 at Las Nieves, Spain, in 1996 (Gutierrez et al., 1998).
Disasters of this magnitude have not been experienced at Australian camping grounds or caravan parks. Onlya few lives have been lost as a result of flooding in caravan parks. According to newspaper sources quoted by Eagle and Malone (1986, p.170-171), a 19-year old man died after being swept by a 30 ftwave from a camping ground at Terrigal Beach into the sea, during storms in 1974. At Coffs Harbour in 1996, a 53 year-old woman – who had been at the caravan park for less than a week – drowned after slipping and hitting her head on the pavement while trying to escape the rapidly rising floodwaters. Other residents – one with arthritis and another with collapsed hips – were rescued by the park’s owner (Coffs Harbour Advocate, November 1996).
A concern for flood-liable caravan parks is that those that cater for permanent residents usually attract an over-representation of potentially at-risk groups such as pensioners, retirees and those on low income (Plant Location International, 1987). At CoffsHarbour, caravan parks have been used as an emergency overflow for public housing (Peter Minturn,SES, pers. comm., 22/11/00). The aged or underprivileged might require additional assistanceduring evacuations, and financial relief if their few possessions are sullied.
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Flood Risk Assessment and Management Strategies for Caravan Parks in NSW>
