Victoria Point – Natural Hazards and Critical Infrastructure

Victoria Point – Natural Hazards and Critical Infrastructure

Natural Hazards

To view Natural Hazard mapping layers for bushfire, flood and storm tides, or landslides visit the Redlands Coast Disaster Dashboard.

Bushfire

Victoria Point bushfire hazard areas spread throughout the suburb with a large section of land identified as medium to high bushfire hazard running the length of Eprapah Creek, virtually from its mouth at Point O’Halloran to Kingfisher Road at the western boundary of the suburb. These bushfire hazard areas border both rural and residential developments along with shopping centres and bush surrounding wetland areas such as Clay gully and the Egret Colony Wetlands.

Properties adjacent bushland areas may be risk of ember attack should there be a bushfire in the vicinity. During a wildfire, embers can travel up to 3km in front of a fire line which means residents need to be vigilant and be prepared. For more information about bushfire preparedness and what to do during a bushfire, visit the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services website to create your Bushfire Survival Plan.

Redland City Council employs a range of fire mitigation strategies to reduce the risk of bushfire on Council owned land and impact to surrounding areas. These strategies include hazard reduction burning (back burns), fire breaks and weed management. Redland City Council works with its Local Disaster Management Group partners to undertake fire mitigation activities around the city.

Flood Prone, Storm Tide

The Victoria Point area has potential to experience flooding as a consequence of either tidal inundation or flash flooding resulting from heavy rainfall events. Victoria Point has a number of waterways running through it, the largest of these being the Eprapah Creek system which flows into Moreton Bay at the north-eastern coastline of Victoria Point. Eprapah Creek is impacted by both tidal inundation and flash flooding resulting from heavy rainfall events.

The Eprapah Creek system primarily runs through bushland reserve areas, however if the creek floods, current mapping indicates that it will impact the Lakeside Shopping Centre at Victoria Point, the Victoria Point Wastewater Treatment Plant, Faith Lutheran College and other large properties along Beveridge Road. This Creek can also impact roads along its path as indicated by the flood prone hazard mapping; south of where Woodlands Drive meets Mount Cotton Road, Eprapah Road, Springacre and Kingfisher Roads. It could quite possibly impact Cleveland Redland Bay Road, south of the Boundary Road roundabout.

Eprapah Creek is about 52km long and is made up of a main channel and two smaller tributary channels – Little Eprapah and Sandy Creeks. The creek starts at the Mount Cotton hills west of Mount Cotton road, flows through cleared rural blocks and east towards the lower, urbanised reaches of Victoria Point. Eprapah Creek catchment covers the western edges of Victoria Point and Redland Bay and the majority of Mount Cotton. West Mount Cotton Road forms part of the western catchment boundary. Major natural features on public land include Eprapah estuary, Sandy Creek and Eastern Escarpment Conservation Area. The catchment also has many smaller parcels of bushland refuges and Eprapah Creek corridor conservation land.

Moogarrapum Creek rises in the Days Road Conservation Area and smaller tributaries drain rural land either side of German Church and Giles Road. The main channel flows through urban Redland Bay, into Victoria Point and flows out to Moreton Bay. Moogurrapum Creek is 31.5km long and is dominated by rural non-urban and commercial land use to the west of the Cleveland Redland Bay Road. It also has closed and capped landfill sites, with one now being used as a waste transfer station.

Current mapping also indicates that low lying areas of Victoria Point may experience tidal inundation as a result of a storm tide event. Areas of greatest impact appear to be the Point O’Halloran Conservation Area, Wilson Esplanade, White Street, Base Street, and the Thompson’s Beach area which includes Eagle Street, Thompson Esplanade, Beach Court and Simon Street. Also in the vicinity of Thompson’s Beach are two large retirement villages, current mapping indicates that both would experience some impact from tidal inundation during a storm tide event.

Landslide

Landslide Hazard mapping indicates that Victoria Point has a very limited landslide risk, with a few small pockets generally confined to parkland or bushland areas. There are a few residential properties to the north of the Redland Bay Golf Course which are identified as having a low landslide hazard risk.

Residential development in these areas needs to comply with the requirements of the Redland City Plan which, through the Landslide Hazard Overlay attempts to mitigate the impacts of the landslide hazard by requiring more robust engineering for developments built within the identified landslide hazard areas. It is important for engineers and geologists to evaluate slope stability and any landslide threat during development assessments so that effective and timely remedial measures can be implemented.

Critical Infrastructure

Critical infrastructure at the time of a disaster event includes utilities such as power, water, sewerage, telecommunications, gas and road and rail networks. Impacts of a disaster on these services may have far reaching long term effects for mainland communities.

Sewage

Victoria Point has a mix of sewered and non-sewered areas. The residential areas, which cover the majority of the suburb, are connected to the city’s sewer network. Effluent from these areas is directed to the Victoria Point Wastewater Treatment Plant located off Link Road. Hazard mapping indicates that the Victoria Point Wastewater Treatment Plant is adjacent bushland identified as being moderate bushfire hazard and may be impacted by tidal inundation during a severe storm tide event.

The rural acreage areas, located in the south and west of the suburb are not connected to the city’s sewer network and rely on a mix of gravity-fed septic systems and on-site sewerage treatment plants located on the properties to manage the wastewater. The on-site sewerage treatment plants require electricity to function, therefore it is recommended that these systems have a back-up generator to cope with extended periods of power outages which can occur during severe weather events. Many of the RCC sewage pumping stations have fixed generators onsite to provide backup power in the event of a power failure. Those that do not have fixed generators have the facilities to plug in a portable generator; several are available that can be taken to any site that requires it.

Water

Victoria Point receives its water supply from the Heinemann Road Reservoir, located at Mount Cotton. The Heinemann Road Reservoir services the Southern Moreton Bay Islands, Redland Bay, Victoria Point and Thornlands and is connected to the Mount Cotton Reservoir at Tallow Wood Court, that services Mount Cotton and Sheldon. The Mount Cotton Reservoir in turn is connected to the Alexandra Hills Reservoir located at Alexandra Circuit in Alexandra Hills, making possible the supply of water to Redland City’s northern suburbs should there be issues with Leslie Harrison Dam which traditionally services the north of the city.

The Heinemann Road Reservoir is also connected to the Herring Lagoon bore field on North Stradbroke Island and the South East Queensland (SEQ) Water Grid via a pump station on Gramzow Road, Mount Cotton. The connection to the SEQ Water Grid allows water to be pumped to and from the city via the Heinemann Road Reservoir. This network of reservoirs, pump stations and pipelines ensures that water can be moved around the network and that multiple water supplies are available to residents living in all areas Redland City.

Electricity

Victoria Point is serviced by a mix of both overhead and underground powerline networks, with the primary 33kV overhead powerline running through the suburb along Cleveland-Redland Bay Road to Redland Bay. An underwater 11kV powerline connects to Coochiemudlo Island from Victoria Point Reserve at the end of Colburn Avenue.

The more recently developed estates along Bunker Road behind the Victoria Point Shopping Centre, is primarily where the underground powerline network is located. The longer established areas near the waterfront are supplied by the overhead powerline network.

The overhead powerlines are more susceptible to damage during severe weather which can result in power outages and fallen powerlines. Fallen powerlines can cause significant dangers to the community, be aware that any object in contact with powerlines could be live. The area surrounding fallen powerlines is more dangerous in wet conditions as sea and tap water are an excellent conductor of electricity.

Energex offer a notification service for Emergency and Planned outages, and other alerts such as upcoming meter read if dogs are onsite or for certain customer service work requests. Click here to go to the Energex Notifications page to Register for this notification service.

Remember: any metallic objects, including fences, will be electrified if they touch or are even close to a live fallen powerline. Even a tree branch can be a potential conductor of electricity if it is in contact with a live wire. Stay away from fallen powerlines and alert others of the danger – contact 000 or Energex on 13 19 62.

Gas

There is no domestic reticulated gas service within Redland City and no gas main that runs through the suburb of Victoria Point. There are however homes within the area that use gas bottles to service hot water systems and cooking appliances. Residents are reminded to be diligent with the appropriate storage and maintenance of any gas bottles that they have located on their property.

Telecommunications

Victoria Point is connected via landlines to the telecommunications and data networks. There is good mobile network coverage in Victoria Point with limited to no mobile reception black spots in the area. Telstra is the major supplier of telecommunications to the region; other suppliers include Optus and Vodafone.

Connection to the National Broadband Network (NBN) is now available across the majority of Australia, with various connection types for both wired (copper, fibre optic, and hybrid fibre-coaxial) and radio (satellite and fixed wireless). It is important to know the type of connection you have; fibre to the building (FTTB), fibre to the curb (FTTC), fibre to the node (FTTN), fibre to the premises (FTTP), or hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), there is also satellite or fixed wireless. The majority of connections are FTTN and FTTP, closely followed by HFC.

It is important to note that any equipment connected via the NBN will not work during a power outage, including VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones. For more information about what happens in a power blackout for the type of connection at your residence, please go to https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/what-happens-in-a-power-blackout. Certain connection types can request battery back-up solutions through their internet service provider; battery back-up is required for all Priority Assistance customers who suffer from a diagnosed life-threatening illness.

If you have a medical alarm, emergency call button, autodialler, security alarm, monitored fire alarm or lift emergency phones at your premises, please contact your equipment provider to confirm whether your equipment will work via the network in the event of a power outage. Further information is also available on the NBN website and how to register these devices; this assists the NBN in identifying premises where support maybe be required to minimise service outages https://www.nbnco.com.au/learn/device-compatibility.

Harbours and Marinas

The Victoria Point Reserve, located at the end of Colburn Avenue is the primary access point to Coochiemudlo Island. Passenger ferry services to the island launch from the deep water jetty whilst the barge service utilise the ramp facility. There is a boat ramp within the precinct to launch small vessels and Volunteer Marine Rescue Victoria Point also has their base and boat launching facilities within the Victoria Point Reserve area.

Current flood prone, storm tide mapping indicates that the area of Victoria Point Reserve that contains the marine infrastructure may be impacted by tidal inundation during an extreme storm tide event that could result in damage to essential infrastructure.

There are also a number of small boat moorings dotted along the Victoria Point coast line. These moorings and vessels are at risk of structural damage should a storm tide event impact the area.

Road Network

Summer months bring rain, cyclones and unstable weather conditions to Queensland. More than half of flood related deaths in Queensland are the result of people driving through floodwater. It can happen anywhere – roads, creeks, dams, parks or backyards. Residents should be aware of the dangers connected to floodwater or swift flowing water such as: slippery surfaces; uneven ground; strong currents; sharp objects; electrical current; fences; vehicles; rocks; long grass; tree branches; sewerage; and chemicals.

If you get trapped in floodwater, you not only put your life and the lives of the people with you at risk, but you also put the lives of the rescuers at risk too.

Localised flooding may temporarily restrict access and cut roads in some areas of Redland City. Please consider this when planning to drive during periods of heavy rain. See a list of the areas that may be impacted by localised flooding.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Plan ahead and keep yourself, family and friends safe. Check out the Floodwater Safety information available here https://www.qfes.qld.gov.au/prepare/flooding

Rail Network

Currently there is no rail infrastructure in Victoria Point and there are no plans to extend to rail network to Victoria Point in the near future.