How To Use This Community Profile
The intent of this community profile is to increase local understanding of the natural hazards that may affect the local community, and to provide a concise document to assist with preventing, preparing for, responding to and recovering from disaster events.
Residents should consider all of the information and determine whether they wish to print this document (and associated links) to keep with their emergency kits.
As a minimum, it is recommended that residents read the information in the profile and access the Disaster Dashboard on a regular basis. Residents can also choose to sign up for the Early Warning Network (EWN) to get updates during emergency events. Local emergency radio (106.7FM, 95.7FM and 720AM) also provides emergency information and warnings, and is useful if other communications methods are unavailable.
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The Tablelands Local Disaster Management Plan highlights a number of region-wide risks that have been identified using the Queensland Emergency Risk Management Framework (QERMF) methodology. The risks identified below are those that apply to the Herberton community.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is the lead agency for weather-related warnings. These warnings are accessible from the warnings section on the Disaster Dashboard.
Severe Thunderstorm Risk
A severe thunderstorm warning is issued when thunderstorms are expected to produce wind gusts of at least 90 kilometres per hour, tornadoes, lightning, large hail with a diameter of at least two centimetres or very heavy rain that can lead to flash flooding. The location of severe thunderstorms is difficult to accurately predict well in advance. As a result, severe thunderstorm warnings will generally have an advance warning time of one hour or less. For more information about severe thunderstorms and what to do during a severe storm, visit: Severe Thunderstorms
Cyclone Risk
The risks associated with cyclones are related to a number of natural hazard components including damaging winds, heavy rainfall and storm surges. Cyclonic risk is a combination of the exposure of an area to damaging winds and the vulnerability of built infrastructure to withstand those winds. Typically, stronger winds are experienced on areas of higher elevation.
For more information about cyclone preparedness and what to do during a cyclone, visit: Cyclones.
Flooding Risk
Being part of the upper catchment, Herberton does not have a large area of riverine flooding risk. Current mapping indicates potential riverine flooding in the north-east area of Herberton in the vegetation between the Bruce Highway and Elm Street.
To understand the risk to your property and community, view the hazard layers for flood on the map at the Disaster Dashboard.
There is no flash flood mapping available. Flash flooding tends to affect localised areas but can occur anywhere as a result of intense rainfall.
For more information about flood preparedness and what to do during a flood, visit: Floods.
Bushfire Risk
Herberton is comprised of a mixed matrix of land use with a sizable amount of vegetation, particularly in the north and western portions of the suburb. Due to this large portion of vegetation there is a number of high and medium bushfire prone areas within the suburb. The majority of the high bushfire prone area within this suburb is in the north-west or south-west of Herberton. While built up areas of this suburb are not within potential bushfire prone area they are completely surrounded by potential bushfire prone area.
To understand the risk to your property and community, view the hazard layers for bushfire on the map at the Disaster Dashboard.
For more information about bushfire preparedness and what to do during a bushfire, visit: Bushfires.
Landslide Risk
Landslide hazard mapping indicates that a large portion of Herberton is landslide prone. A large number of minor waterways/drainages are mapped across Herberton, all of which have a high landslide risk. The high landslide areas are also surrounded by moderate landslide prone areas.
To understand the risk to your property and community, view the hazard layers for landslide on the map at the Disaster Dashboard.
For more information about landslide prevention and what to do during a landslide, visit: Landslide.
Earthquake Risk
The Queensland State Earthquake Assessment mapped zones of earthquake likelihood. The Tablelands is in zone 1. The chance of a magnitude 5.35 earthquake occurring is 0.13% per year.
Herberton is dominated by category B (low risk) with some small areas of category C (moderate risk) and D (high risk) in the north-east adjacent to the Bruce Highway.
Geoscience Australia is the information source for geotechnical hazards. Warnings of more than a few seconds are not available for earthquakes as they are difficult to predict. A post-event notification may be received that may result in the LDMG issuing local warnings.
For more information about earthquake preparedness and what to do during an earthquake, visit: Earthquake.
Heatwave Risk
Heatwaves can impact people, infrastructure, and the environment. In terms of impacts to communities, people are more vulnerable to heatwaves if they are aged under 5 or over 65 years or have a medical condition. In Herberton, 1.6% of people are aged under 5, 28.1% of people are aged over 65 and there is a higher percentage of people (31.2%) with long-term health conditions when compared to the Tablelands overall (29.6%).
A land surface temperature map from a heatwave period in Noosa found Herberton has a slightly higher mean surface temperature compared to Noosa overall.
For more information about heatwave preparedness and what to do during a heatwave, visit:
Transport Risks
Traffic incidents do occur on the road network. Heavy vehicles and buses use major roads across the shire including range roads. Transportation and storage regulations, individual company policies and procedures, and emergency services’ contingency response plans are in place to safeguard the population and environment from accidental exposure to hazardous materials, but their presence and transportation on the road does present a relatively low risk to the community and the environment.
There are some commercial flight paths that pass over parts of the region as well as flight paths for light aircraft and helicopters. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is the lead agency.
Other Risks
Non-natural or technological hazard events such as transport accidents, hazardous materials incidents, fires or explosions, could arise at any time and sometimes with little to no warning. Other events such as pandemics, biosecurity threats, animal diseases or climate change may provide adequate warning time but may also persist over a long duration creating significant social, economic and environmental stressors.
Prevention and mitigation are all of those actions we can take to make sure that a disaster doesn’t happen or, if it does happen, that it causes less harm, allowing us to recover sooner.
We can’t stop most natural phenomena happening, but we can reduce the damage caused by natural hazard events.
The TRC Planning Scheme is an important tool for preventing disasters through land-use planning. Additionally, Council enforces building codes and standards to ensure that houses and critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals can withstand likely impacts from natural hazards.
Tablelands Regional Council and LDMG agencies also undertake a coordinated schedule of hazard reduction activities to manage risks under their control (e.g. establishing and maintaining fire breaks, undertaking multi-agency hazard reduction burns, etc.).
There are many steps that individuals can take to prevent disasters. Undertaking design improvements such as installing cyclone screening can assist with mitigating impacts from severe storms, maintaining fire breaks can save property and critical infrastructure during bushfires, and planting trees can prevent erosion, landslides and drought.
Preparing for natural hazards and disaster events usually happens well before a hazard occurs. Having plans that allow you to respond to hazards in a calm and organised manner is a good way step toward being prepared. Additional information for preparing can be found at:
How to respond when a natural hazard or disaster threatens or occurs should be planned well before the disaster. For current information on hazards and disasters, head to the Noosa Disaster Dashboard and listen to local radio for updates.
Further information that can help with responding to disasters can be found below:
Recovery is the most protracted and resource intensive phase of disasters and this phase can last months, if not years. Disasters affect everyone differently. Some people recover soon after while others may take a long time to feel like things are ‘back to normal’. Try to establish a routine and move forward as quickly as possible and seek help from family and friends to help you get back on your feet.
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Hazard Risks
The Tablelands Local Disaster Management Plan highlights a number of region-wide risks that have been identified using the Queensland Emergency Risk Management Framework (QERMF) methodology. The risks identified below are those that apply to the Herberton community.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is the lead agency for weather-related warnings. These warnings are accessible from the warnings section on the Disaster Dashboard.
A severe thunderstorm warning is issued when thunderstorms are expected to produce wind gusts of at least 90 kilometres per hour, tornadoes, lightning, large hail with a diameter of at least two centimetres or very heavy rain that can lead to flash flooding. The location of severe thunderstorms is difficult to accurately predict well in advance. As a result, severe thunderstorm warnings will generally have an advance warning time of one hour or less. For more information about severe thunderstorms and what to do during a severe storm, visit: Severe Thunderstorms.
The risks associated with cyclones are related to a number of natural hazard components including damaging winds, heavy rainfall and storm surges. Cyclonic risk is a combination of the exposure of an area to damaging winds and the vulnerability of built infrastructure to withstand those winds. Typically, stronger winds are experienced on areas of higher elevation.
For more information about cyclone preparedness and what to do during a cyclone, visit: Cyclones.
Being part of the upper catchment, Herberton does not have a large area of riverine flooding risk. Current mapping indicates potential riverine flooding in the north-east area of Herberton in the vegetation between the Bruce Highway and Elm Street.
To understand the risk to your property and community, view the hazard layers for flood on the map at the Disaster Dashboard.
There is no flash flood mapping available. Flash flooding tends to affect localised areas but can occur anywhere as a result of intense rainfall.
For more information about flood preparedness and what to do during a flood, visit: Floods.
Herberton is comprised of a mixed matrix of land use with a sizable amount of vegetation, particularly in the north and western portions of the suburb. Due to this large portion of vegetation there is a number of high and medium bushfire prone areas within the suburb. The majority of the high bushfire prone area within this suburb is in the north-west or south-west of Herberton. While built up areas of this suburb are not within potential bushfire prone area they are completely surrounded by potential bushfire prone area.
To understand the risk to your property and community, view the hazard layers for bushfire on the map at the Disaster Dashboard.
For more information about bushfire preparedness and what to do during a bushfire, visit: Bushfires.
Landslide hazard mapping indicates that a large portion of Herberton is landslide prone. A large number of minor waterways/drainages are mapped across Herberton, all of which have a high landslide risk. The high landslide areas are also surrounded by moderate landslide prone areas.
To understand the risk to your property and community, view the hazard layers for landslide on the map at the Disaster Dashboard.
For more information about landslide prevention and what to do during a landslide, visit: Landslide.
The Queensland State Earthquake Assessment mapped zones of earthquake likelihood. The Tablelands is in zone 1. The chance of a magnitude 5.35 earthquake occurring is 0.13% per year.
Herberton is dominated by category B (low risk) with some small areas of category C (moderate risk) and D (high risk) in the north-east adjacent to the Bruce Highway.
Geoscience Australia is the information source for geotechnical hazards. Warnings of more than a few seconds are not available for earthquakes as they are difficult to predict. A post-event notification may be received that may result in the LDMG issuing local warnings.
For more information about earthquake preparedness and what to do during an earthquake, visit: Earthquake.
Heatwaves can impact people, infrastructure, and the environment. In terms of impacts to communities, people are more vulnerable to heatwaves if they are aged under 5 or over 65 years or have a medical condition. In Herberton, 1.6% of people are aged under 5, 28.1% of people are aged over 65 and there is a higher percentage of people (31.2%) with long-term health conditions when compared to the Tablelands overall (29.6%).
A land surface temperature map from a heatwave period in Noosa found Herberton has a slightly higher mean surface temperature compared to Noosa overall.
For more information about heatwave preparedness and what to do during a heatwave, visit:
Traffic incidents do occur on the road network. Heavy vehicles and buses use major roads across the shire including range roads. Transportation and storage regulations, individual company policies and procedures, and emergency services’ contingency response plans are in place to safeguard the population and environment from accidental exposure to hazardous materials, but their presence and transportation on the road does present a relatively low risk to the community and the environment.
There are some commercial flight paths that pass over parts of the region as well as flight paths for light aircraft and helicopters. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) is the lead agency.
Non-natural or technological hazard events such as transport accidents, hazardous materials incidents, fires or explosions, could arise at any time and sometimes with little to no warning. Other events such as pandemics, biosecurity threats, animal diseases or climate change may provide adequate warning time but may also persist over a long duration creating significant social, economic and environmental stressors.
Prevent
Prevention and mitigation are all of those actions we can take to make sure that a disaster doesn’t happen or, if it does happen, that it causes less harm, allowing us to recover sooner..
We can’t stop most natural phenomena happening, but we can reduce the damage caused by natural hazard events.
The TRC Planning Scheme is an important tool for preventing disasters through land-use planning. Additionally, Council enforces building codes and standards to ensure that houses and critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals can withstand likely impacts from natural hazards.
Tablelands Regional Council and LDMG agencies also undertake a coordinated schedule of hazard reduction activities to manage risks under their control (e.g. establishing and maintaining fire breaks, undertaking multi-agency hazard reduction burns, etc.).
There are many steps that individuals can take to prevent disasters. Undertaking design improvements such as installing cyclone screening can assist with mitigating impacts from severe storms, maintaining fire breaks can save property and critical infrastructure during bushfires, and planting trees can prevent erosion, landslides and drought.
Prepare
Prevention and mitigation are all of those actions we can take to make sure that a disaster doesn’t happen or, if it does happen, that it causes less harm, allowing us to recover sooner..
We can’t stop most natural phenomena happening, but we can reduce the damage caused by natural hazard events.
The TRC Planning Scheme is an important tool for preventing disasters through land-use planning. Additionally, Council enforces building codes and standards to ensure that houses and critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals can withstand likely impacts from natural hazards.
Tablelands Regional Council and LDMG agencies also undertake a coordinated schedule of hazard reduction activities to manage risks under their control (e.g. establishing and maintaining fire breaks, undertaking multi-agency hazard reduction burns, etc.).
There are many steps that individuals can take to prevent disasters. Undertaking design improvements such as installing cyclone screening can assist with mitigating impacts from severe storms, maintaining fire breaks can save property and critical infrastructure during bushfires, and planting trees can prevent erosion, landslides and drought.
Respond
How to respond when a natural hazard or disaster threatens or occurs should be planned well before the disaster. For current information on hazards and disasters, head to the Noosa Disaster Dashboard and listen to local radio for updates.
Further information that can help with responding to disasters can be found below:
Recover
Recovery is the most protracted and resource intensive phase of disasters and this phase can last months, if not years. Disasters affect everyone differently. Some people recover soon after while others may take a long time to feel like things are ‘back to normal’. Try to establish a routine and move forward as quickly as possible and seek help from family and friends to help you get back on your feet.