Shore Coastal was engaged to manage the Busselton Storm Surge Risk Mitigation (Tropical Cyclones) project in 2022. The project seeks to mitigate the risk of coastal inundation associated with tropical cyclone storm surges to the large regional City of Busselton, in southwest Western Australia.
The highest ocean water level recorded in Geographe Bay was 1.76mAHD during Tropical Cyclone Alby in 1978. The devastation of Alby resulted in five deaths and widespread damage caused by wind, fire and the ocean. Whilst tropical cyclones are more common in the northwest, in the order of 40 tropical cyclones have affected the southwest region of Western Australia since 1910.
The project is broken into four components, which are to be delivered over three years, and were expertly managed by Shore Coastal. The four components are;
- Emergency Response: Development of an Emergency Response Plan, to protect people from the affects of inundation
- Coastal Investigations: Design and implementation of an advanced modelling scope, to better understand the possible paths of inundation
- Dune Resilience Works: Design and implementation of nature based engineering solutions to provide natural protection from high water levels caused by tropical cyclones
- Coastal Flood Protection: Design and implementation of built engineering structures to provide high level protection from water levels that may result from tropical cyclones
The video below captures the Busselton Storm Surge Risk Mitigation Project.