Insurer Suncorp has hosted a Q&A evening and book launch with renowned author and historian, Margaret Cook.

The Brisbane event saw Cook discuss her latest book, A River with a City Problem, which documents the history of floods in the Brisbane catchment area in the past 130 years, focusing on the aftermath of the 1893, 1974, and 2011 floods.

The Suncorp-hosted event, held in partnership with the Queensland Flood Community of Practice, provided flood and water management professionals from across the southeast the opportunity to hear from Cook, as well as from David Fagan, journalist and ex-Courier Mail editor, and Piet Filet, Flood Community of Practice convenor, about their own memories of the Brisbane River.

The evening saw Cook and the participants tackle Brisbane’s flood problem, as well as how cities around the world can manage floods.

“Australia faces significant risk of natural disasters and Suncorp has seen first-hand the devastating impacts they have on communities, including the 2011 floods in Brisbane and most recently with the floods in Townsville earlier this year,” said Joshua Cooney, Suncorp executive manager for government industry and public policy.