Flood response expert says Lismore can learn from USA flood reponses

Nicholas Pinter is a professor at the University of California, Davis, who has taken an in depth look at disasters across the US to see the effects of mitigation, managed retreat and community relocation following a flood event.

The examples he looked at may be half a world away, but Prof Pinter says the information can be useful to leaders in Lismore when looking at how to proceed following a flood - what worked, what didn't, and why?

"People are people. They have the same challenges, maybe they have the same solutions," Prof Pinter said. "There is no need to reinvent the wheel."

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In looking at various mitigation measures, he said relying on manmade structures such as levees can be a solution to control minor flooding, but they can also provide a false sense of security and breed complacency. And, they are not a permanent fix.

"One is a levee that has failed, and one is a levee that will fail," he said. "It's never if, but when. When the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, all you've got is a nail,"

He said when communities weren't supported to make the best decisions, that often took longer, they were left with no option but to take a shortcut to house their family - to take the "quick fix vs the fix".

He encouraged a "more transformative approach" to inspire people to make the more difficult choice, but found it sometimes took "a second calamity before action is taken".

Prof Pinter says the 1993 retreat of Valmeyer in Illinois is the "poster child for wholesale community relocation as a tool for permanently mitigating flood risk", and the relocation of Grantham in Queensland sits alongside it as a success story.

There were common factors, he noted, in towns that were able to recover after a flood: Strong leadership; Broad buy-in consensus - don't try for 100 per cent; acting quickly; and staying in the media headlines.

He highlights the leadership shown by the mayors of Valmeyer and Grantham in ensuring the relocations were successful. He said both communities led their own agenda rather than letting the government dictate their timetables.

His research revealed the longer action was delayed, the less effective it was, noting that after seven years, "nothing meaningful" was achieved. There was "a window of opportunity", and the faster governments and leaders acted, the more residents and businesses would choose to stay.

Pinter says the most successful examples of community relocation saw communities move together, rather than disperse.