Inquest into the death of Robin MacDonald, Colin Webb and Brian Wilson (Dungog Floods)
Deceased
Robin MacDonald, Colin Webb, Brian Wilson
Demographics
unknown
Date of death
2015-04-21
Finding date
2017-09-29
Cause of death
Presumed freshwater drowning
AI-generated summary
Three residents of Dungog, NSW drowned on 21 April 2015 in an unprecedented flash flood: Robin MacDonald, Colin Webb, and Brian Wilson became trapped by rapidly rising floodwaters in their homes. The coroner found the flooding was an unpredictable weather anomaly exceeding a one-in-1000-year rainfall, with 167mm falling in two hours. Although emergency services were alerted, the flash flooding proved too sudden for timely evacuation. The coroner identified critical systemic failures: no automated flood warning system existed for Myall Creek (which caused most local flooding), no flood modelling existed for local catchments, and emergency managers lacked formal training. The coroner recommended establishing a technical advisory group to develop an automated hybrid flood warning system combining rainfall and river data, and providing ongoing meteorological consultation to emergency services.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Contributing factors
- Unprecedented flash flooding and rapid rise of floodwater
- Unpredictable weather anomaly with extreme rainfall
- Lack of automated flood warning system for Myall Creek catchment
- Absence of flood modelling for local township catchments
- Inadequate early warning to residents
- Sudden onset of flood event without sufficient warning time
Coroner's recommendations
- NSW State Emergency Service, Bureau of Meteorology and Dungog Shire Council to establish a technical advisory group to develop flood warning and response solutions for Dungog, including development of an automated flood warning system using rainfall and riverine water level data for Myall Creek and tributaries, on both interim and long-term basis
- Minister for Emergency Services NSW to further consider providing NSW State Emergency Service with access to an out-posted meteorologist from Bureau of Meteorology for ongoing planning and consultation on a part-time basis, as well as assistance during weather events
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