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Cover of Principles for Transport Network Management in Flooding and Wet Weather Events
Principles for Transport Network Management in Flooding and Wet Weather Events
  • Publication no: AP-R772-26
  • ISBN: 978-1-923617-67-4
  • Published: 4 September 2026

This report examines how Australian and New Zealand transport agencies manage flooding and wet weather events. These events are typically treated as incidents ranging from routine disruptions to large-scale emergencies requiring coordinated, multi-agency responses.

This report identifies key themes and principles that informed the accompanying Guidelines, drawing on both international best practice and agency experience. Agencies primarily apply traffic and multimodal incident management approaches, supported by formal emergency management frameworks when events escalate.

The report emphasises the importance of resilience, data-driven decision-making, and integrated operational and infrastructure responses, particularly in the context of increasing climate risks. It concludes with a set of core principles to support effective, safe, and resilient transport network performance. The principles focus on customer outcomes, proactive and coordinated management, multimodal integration, climate adaptation and risk-based approaches.

The Guidelines and the complementary report

This report supports Austroads' Guidelines for Transport Network Management in Flooding and Wet Weather Events (AP-G117-26), which provides a risk-based framework to support transport agencies in managing the impacts of flooding and wet weather events on transport networks across Australia and New Zealand.

This report is also complementary to the Austroads’ research report Case Studies for Transport Network Management in Flooding and Wet Weather Events (AP-R773-26)

  • Summary
  • 1. Introduction
    • 1.1 Purpose
    • 1.2 Scope
    • 1.3 Methodology
    • 1.4 Key terms
  • 2. Flooding and Wet Weather Event Context
    • 2.1 Flooding and wet weather definitions
    • 2.2 Flood types, characteristics and classification
    • 2.3 Impacted stakeholders
    • 2.4 Agency transport network management services and their relationships
      • 2.4.1 Traffic incident management
      • 2.4.2 Multimodal incident management
      • 2.4.3 Disaster and emergency management
        Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
      • 2.4.4 Climate change adaptations
  • 3. Flood and Wet Weather Event Impacts
    • 3.1 Transport system disruption types
    • 3.2 Road safety impacts
      • 3.2.1 Safety risks of driving and wading through floodwaters
      • 3.2.2 Electric vehicles in floodwater
      • 3.2.3 Vehicle failure and stability
      • 3.2.4 People instability
      • 3.2.5 Driver decision making
    • 3.3 Road and transport impacts
      • 3.3.1 Road agency impacts
      • 3.3.2 Operational road impacts
      • 3.3.3 Public transport and active traveller impacts
      • 3.3.4 Freight impacts
      • 3.3.5 Societal impacts
      • 3.3.6 Infrastructure damage
      • 3.3.7 Economic impacts
  • 4. International Approaches to Managing Flooding and Wet Weather Events
    • 4.1 USA
      • 4.1.1 Road weather management
      • 4.1.2 Disaster and emergency management
    • 4.2 Europe
      • 4.2.1 EU road weather information – ITS Reference Handbook
      • 4.2.2 Climate change impacts and adaptation for transport networks and nodes -United Nations
        Economic Commission for Europe
      • 4.2.3 Management of weather events in transport system (MOWE-IT)
      • 4.2.4 EU Copernicus Information Services
      • 4.2.5 European disaster risk management
      • 4.2.6 Adaptation of transport to climate change in Europe
      • 4.2.7 Adaptation of transport infrastructure and services (ADRIADAPT)
    • 4.3 UK
      • 4.3.1 Climate change adaptation plan
      • 4.3.2 Highways agencies wet weather management learning
    • 4.4 Other international reports
      • 4.4.1 Transportation adaptation strategies
      • 4.4.2 PIARC – road weather management
      • 4.4.3 PIARC – emergency response
      • 4.4.4 PIARC – disaster information management for road administrators
    • 4.5 Climate change – international considerations and approaches
      • 4.5.1 Climate change – USA
  • 5. Australian and New Zealand Guidance for Transport Management During Disasters
    • 5.1 Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook Collection
    • 5.2 New Zealand civil defence emergency management
    • 5.3 Prevention, preparedness, response and recovery
  • 6. Australian and New Zealand Jurisdictional Approaches to Managing Flooding and Wet Weather Events
    • 6.1 New Zealand
      • 6.1.1 Incident and disaster management
      • 6.1.2 Resilience
    • 6.2 Queensland
      • 6.2.1 Queensland disaster and emergency management
      • 6.2.2 Policy
      • 6.2.3 Public awareness
    • 6.3 New South Wales
      • 6.3.1 New South Wales disaster and emergency management
      • 6.3.2 Resilience
      • 6.3.3 Transport for NSW flood management considerations
    • 6.4 Western Australia
    • 6.5 Australian and New Zealand climate change considerations and approaches
      • 6.5.1 Australian Government resilience and adaptation strategy
      • 6.5.2 New Zealand climate change
      • 6.5.3 Queensland climate change
      • 6.5.4 New South Wales climate change
      • 6.5.5 Victoria climate change
      • 6.5.6 Western Australia climate change
    • 6.6 Freight management during flood events
      • 6.6.1 Freight movement in emergency situations
      • 6.6.2 Identification of a risk indicator to support ‘life line’ freight routes
      • 6.6.3 Best practice approaches to road freight and communities
    • 6.7 Other reports
      • 6.7.1 Australian road and rail supply chain resilience
        Risks
      • 6.7.2 Public–private partnerships during emergencies
      • 6.7.3 Safety provisions for floodways over roads
  • 7. Flooding and Wet Weather Discussion and Themes
    • 7.1 Goals and objectives for flooding and wet weather management
    • 7.2 Proactive approach
    • 7.3 Risk management
    • 7.4 Resilience management
    • 7.5 Climate change
    • 7.6 Corporate memory
    • 7.7 Coordination and cooperation
    • 7.8 Leverage existing practices
    • 7.9 Traveller information
    • 7.10 Travel demand management and network load balancing
    • 7.11 Freight management
    • 7.12 Data, applications and technology
  • 8. Principles for Flooding and Wet Weather Event Management
  • References
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