A university student has created a flood relief barrier to stop water from entering underground car parks during flash flooding events.
Sunshine Coast University engineering student Scott Roy created the product, Flo Defence, after rainfall flooded Maroochydore in March 2012, inundating underground car parks in Sixth Avenue.
The device, designed like a vertical underground pit, runs the width of the driveway and is made out of metal and foam.
Not visible from the road, the pit fills up with water during a flood and this causes a wall to raise. The wall then seals and locks into place, stopping any water from entering the car park.
Senior lecturer Dr Helen Fairweather says the flood defence device is now ready to undergo trials.
"This design is very elegant, it requires no electricity to operate," Dr Fairweather said.
"That, of course, is very important in flood conditions due to power outages.
"Also, the device only raises when it's absolutely necessary."
Dr Fairweather says the barrier will help to alleviate the impact of future flood disasters.
"Currently it's a real problem in Maroochydore when extreme rainfall events hit," she said.
"Obviously if those conditions coincides with a king tide or a very high tide or a storm surge then that problem is exacerbated."
Future climate change impacts
Dr Fairweather says their research also focuses on the coastal response to climate change and its impacts, particularly rises in sea levels.
"We're monitoring king tides because we're expecting this century, with a high level of confidence, to see the present king tides that we're experiencing likely to become an everyday phenomenon," she said.
"That means that the king tides under a future climate will be comparatively very dramatic, so monitoring those king tides serves two purposes for us.
"Firstly, it helps us develop an understanding of the mechanisms for sand movement within our estuaries and also the erosive mechanisms from the beaches.
"And secondly, we're also doing some monitoring to ascertain the energy available to us in the tide to produce electricity to power street lights for example."
Dr Fairweather says research results are being analysed by students and the findings will be released at the end of the year.