A $9 million pilot program to make Brisbane homes flood-resilient has had a profound impact in the wake of the recent floods, with Brisbane City Council hoping to expand it further.
Former lord mayor Graham Quirk introduced the Flood Resilient Homes Program pilot in 2018, targeting suburbs with a history of heavy and damaging overland flood flow.
The invitation-only program offers residents a free in-home assessment, property report and a grant of up to $50,000 per property to replace materials that could be flood-damaged.
Paddington resident Rusty put his ground-floor apartment through the Flood Resilient Homes Program in 2019, after enduring floods in 2011 and 2017.
In 2011, it was several days before he could return home, with water and mud damaging the apartment.
This time, Rusty's apartment still flooded, but he was able to return just a day later.
One of the main reasons why he was able to return home so quickly is that his walls are now protected from contaminated floodwater by a row of waterproofed skirting tiles on every wall.
"I've got it cleaned up so fast because of the skirting tiles they've put down, waterproofed it so high," Rusty said.
"Then naturally after all that I had to mop and mop … but that got most of the crappy stuff out."
Small changes, big result
Architect Libby Ba-Pe worked on Rusty's home through the program, and said it was satisfying to see such a good result.
"We got a floor-level survey of his house, so we knew exactly what that floor level was in relation to flood levels provided to us from council," Mrs Ba-Pe said.
"From there we knew that we were going to replace his plasterboard wall linings, and replace them with tiles up to that level.
"We knew that we were going to try to raise up any electrical power points as high as possible.
"Any cabinetry that's usually made with chipboard or MDF base that will just swell and buckle, we replaced all of that with water-resistant materials."
Rusty's hollow-core doors were replaced with solid-core doors, meaning water and mould couldn't collect inside them.
On the outside of the apartment building, his hot water system was lifted onto a stand well above the flood level, meaning he had hot water within a day of the floods.
Rusty said the changes meant a "hell of a lot" when he came back to his house to begin the clean-up.
A neighbouring apartment in Rusty's block that also flooded is still empty, with mouldering carpets.
Mrs Ba-Pe said for flooded residents facing a renovation or rebuild now, taking time to find flood-resilient materials could make a huge impact.
"If you imagine the long-term cost benefit of not having to replace over and over, and not having your insurance premiums increase every year, it's incomparable really," she said.
'The most important program'
The pilot program is operating in Rosalie, Inala, Wavell Heights, Camp Hill, West End and Keperra, with the council contacting individual properties to participate.
Since it began, 286 homes have been assessed and 144 have had flood-resilient upgrades like those completed at Rusty's apartment.
Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said seeing Rusty's apartment for himself had driven home how important the program was.
"It's become a champion program out of this event, because not only are we theoretically making the city more flood-resilient, there's real-life examples of where it's had an incredible impact on the lives of so many people."
Cr Schrinner said 2022 had been the "ultimate test" for the pilot program, and he was keen to see it expand further.
The council has spent $9 million to date, and needs more funding to expand.
"Already I've written to both the Prime Minister and the Premier explaining what's happened here, talking about the great results we've had, and inviting them to become part of a much bigger program as well," he said.
"We'll keep doing it, but we can actually do so much more if we get funding and support from other levels of government."
