Assessing the regional economic impacts of flood interruption to transport corridors in Rockhampton

This study examined the economic costs of transport corridor closures at Rockhampton, Central Queensland, as a consequence of peak flooding in the Fitzroy River during January 2011. The floods in central Queensland caused a large number of direct economic impacts, including lost coal production, lost agricultural production, damaged infrastructure and the emergency response and avoidance costs. However, the floods also caused a variety of indirect costs, as those impacts and the interruption to business activities rippled through the local and state economy. A particular subset of the indirect impacts that are assessed in this report are the costs stemming from the closure of the transport corridors at Rockhampton, largely isolating the city from supplies and separating north Queensland from southern Queensland.