When the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) introduces its new warning system on Friday September 30, Lismore can expect to see some changes in how potential flooding events are reported.

As well as a change in visual cues and warning levels, we can expect to see localised warnings for each village, town and community.

Lismore’s SES community engagement officer Janet Petit said the new warning system has been in development since 2014 – and brings NSW in line with the national warning system framework.

Under the new warning system, different parts of Lismore may be issued with specific information – whether by SMS alert or in news and online media.

“We may give advice for North Lismore separate to South or East Lismore or the CBD,” Janet said.

“We will also give localised consequences for each area, with the specific actions we want the community to take.”

The new cues

The three main visual cues will be yellow, orange and red triangles. Yellow is the first Advice Warning level, orange is the Watch and Act level, and red is the Emergency Warning.

Janet said the reason it’s taken so long for a new warning system, website and app to be developed, is because the company developing it wanted to thoroughly focus test the system first.

“It was tested on different communities to make sure the result was what people wanted to see in a warning,” she said.

“They researched how warnings looked and what wording was used.”

Last week, if you received the SES SMS message with a watch and act warning regarding the heavy rain, you’ll be familiar with how warnings have been issued until now.

New wording

Janet said the new warning will be similar, but worded differently.

“Now, a watch and act level warning will say your location first (Lismore) followed by the hazard (flooding) then the action needed (prepare to isolate),” she said.

“There’s also a change in how we also tell people not to just rely on us, but to talk to neighbours and listen to local media and look outside at what the weather is doing.

“While this week the weather forecast is benign, preparation is always the key.”

New SES apps and sites

Janet said the NSW SES is responsible for warning communities about storms, floods and tsunamis, just as the Rural Fire Service (RFS) is responsible for fire warnings.

“The SES is now developing a new hazardwatch.gov.au website which should go live at the end of September when all new warnings come into place,” Janet said.

“You will be able to click on an area and see the warnings for a specific community.

“At end of year, will also have a Hazard Watch app similar to the Fires Near Me app used by the RFS.”

National warning system

Janet said most of Australia is already using the national warning framework, with the exception of Queensland which is expected to come on board next year.

“It’s good news for people who cross borders and need to see what’s happening in any area – all the warnings will be the same” she said.

Local knowledge feeds into new system

The new warning system will still utilise information from the Bureau of Meteorology, with its minor, moderate or major flood warnings

But one of the major differences is that local knowledge will now be assessed and utilised when the SES issues advice to communities.

“We will include advice from our local SES units as well as intel from community members and flood wardens on the ground,” Janet said.

“At the moment there are a number of areas we can’t access if it gets isolated – such as the Channon and Terania Creek.

“So flood wardens can get information out to us and we can feed that into a hazard warning after assessing the risks.”

Community change

While community flood wardens are not new, Janet said the difference now is the larger scale of feedback from community that will be taken into account.

“It is a big advance and an important, progressive change,” she said.

“Because it’s a new way of doing things, we need to be careful about verifying information. We have been caught out before when a Facebook post of water over a causeway was old information. 

“As time goes on, we will have community groups in different locations with specific people who pass on information to us.

“We are hopeful it will work, but we also realise there might be some teething problems.”