Automatic rain gauges and radio controlled warnings on river heights are helping to keep Thuringowa City Council in touch with potential emergencies during wet seasons. The systems are operated through the Council’s Infrastructure Planning and Management Department.
Director of the department, Brian Bailey, said new technology was being used extensively throughout the Council and improved rainfall and river height monitoring was only one example of its successful application.
“The big advantages is that I can now receive instant data on a computer from a wide range of monitors out in the field, coupled with a warning system that sets off an alarm on my mobile phone,” he said.
Council has 11 fully automated rain gauge stations extending from Paluma in the north to other urban and suburban locations. These were developed as part of a regional monitoring system involving Townsville City Council, Water resources and the Bureau of Meteorology. The rainfall details are transmitted by radio and mapped on computers. Radio controlled floodwater monitors have been established in three major stream systems. They also provide 24 hours computer monitoring as well as an alarm system on mobile phone.
“These systems have greatly improved our efficiency in monitoring potential dangerous rainfalls and flood runoff during the wet seasons,” Brian Bailey said.
