Flood maps and property reports
Access flood maps, property reports and planning information to help understand flood risk in Brisbane.
Available flood information
Council provides a range of free online tools and information to help residents understand flood risk, prepare for emergencies and make informed decisions about building and development.
You can access:
- Flood Information Online to view flood maps and information for your property
- FloodWise Property Reports for detailed property-specific flood information
- Flood planning areas and flood overlays for building and development requirements
- Brisbane Severe Weather Alert for notifications about severe weather that may affect your area
- Emergency dashboard to view real-time emergency information and updates
- Brisbane Open Data for access to Council flood datasets and mapping information
- Flood studies that inform Council's flood modelling and mapping
- Historical flood information for major flood events in Brisbane.
Flood Information Online
Flood Information Online (FIO) is Council’s online hub of flood risk information and is regularly updated as flood information is made available.
It provides tools and information to help you understand your property’s flood risk and prepare for flooding. This includes the Flood Awareness Map and the FloodWise Property Report.
FIO will help you understand current and modelled flooding on a property or in a general area and contains tips to prepare for flooding.
How to use the flood information
As a first step, use the Flood Awareness Map to search for an individual address or lot to see if flooding is likely or unlikely, and what types of flooding may be present.
Secondly, use the FloodWise Property Report for more technical flood information for a property. This report is designed to assist with planning and building.
Thirdly, take advantage of the links to information and quick videos that have been developed to help you better understand flooding in Brisbane.
FloodWise Property Report
A FloodWise Property Report (FWPR) provides property-based flood information that can be used when building or developing. It has technical detail about property flood risk, including modelled flood levels, ground levels, habitable floor level requirements and historical flood levels.
FWPR information is described for all flood sources relevant to the property including river, creek/waterway, storm tide and overland flow.
Flood planning areas and flood overlays
The Flood overlay code in City Plan guides the future development of land at risk of flooding within defined flood planning areas (FPAs) shown on the Flood overlay map.
Council has 5 FPAs for Brisbane River and creek/waterway flooding to guide future building and development in flood-prone areas. There is one FPA for local overland flow flooding. Storm tide flooding is mapped separately.
The FPA regulations only apply to new developments (including extensions, rebuilds and expansions), and not existing buildings.
| Flood planning area | Description | What does the code mean for development? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | FPA1 Flooding is very likely and/or there may be very deep and/or very fast-moving water. | Any new development would be subject to the highest development assessment requirements. This area is generally best suited to environmental and recreation uses. |
| 2 | FPA2 Flooding is likely and there may be deep and/or fast-moving water. | New development may be subject to additional development requirements to address flood impacts - such as being high-set with specialised stronger building design. |
| 3 | FPA3 Flooding is likely and there may be deep and/or moderate-fast moving water. | New development may be built in this area but may need modifications such as houses being built on stumps. |
| 4 | FPA4 Flooding is likely and there may be shallow and/or slow-moving water. | New development that can mitigate flood impacts with slight building modifications may be allowed to be built in this area - such as meeting minimum floor heights. |
| 5 | FPA5 There is no recent history of flooding but there is potential for flooding. | No flood overlay code requirements apply to houses. New development such as essential community services like hospitals may be built in this area - by meeting minimum floor heights. |
| Local overland flow | Water may rise quickly and move with speed but will recede quickly. | Minimum standards for floor heights apply to houses. Other development will be designed to not increase flooding impacts on neighbouring properties. |
Planning controls are higher in areas when flood susceptibility is more frequent, and/or to a higher depth and/or in fast flowing water. (For example, FPA1 is subject to the highest development assessment requirements for any future development within that area.)
If you are planning to renovate or build, Council recommends you seek a professional assessment of all flood risks specific to your property.
For more information on flood planning areas, refer to the Flood planning scheme policy in City Plan.
Frequently asked questions
Council has 2 interactive flood maps available online – the Flood Awareness Map and City Plan Flood overlay map. The maps use different model scenarios, based on different flood risk conditions.
The Flood Awareness Map (FAM) provides general flood awareness and preparedness for residents and businesses based on current flood risk conditions. It contains general flood awareness designed for residents, businesses and visitors.
City Plan includes the Flood overlay code and Flood overlay map to guide building and development in flood-prone areas based on future flood risk conditions. It sets out requirements which can be addressed through technical property and flood information, such as flood levels provided in FloodWise Property Reports.
You can download FloodWise Property Reports through the FAM.
No real-time flooding information is available in the Flood Awareness Map or Flood overlay map.
Council’s Emergency dashboard does though provide useful real-time information on emergency incidents, traffic updates and outages posted by major services providers.
You can also access flood camera images through the dashboard for several locations across the city.
Flood information is updated following the release of new flood study data. Council is committed to a rolling flood study program, to ensure that best available source data is used in our flood information.
Once a new flood study is completed, it is uploaded to Brisbane Open Data. Recent updates to the Flood Awareness Map will also be highlighted on the Flood Information Online's home page.
City Plan updates are a regulated process and updating data into the Flood overlay map may take longer to implement. Owners of properties affected by a change to the Flood overlay map will be sent a letter notifying them of the change.
You can also explore Council’s recent flood studies.
To find a property on the Flood Awareness Map, open Flood Information Online and select “I am a resident, visitor or business”. Click on the “I want to search for a property on the Flood Awareness Map” button.
Once the map opens, type in an address or lot number into the search bar. As you type a drop-down list of address options appears. Select the address from the list.
The property is highlighted with a red border on the map and a Flooding Overview panel appears with a summary of flood types and likelihood.
The Flood Awareness Map property search only shows addresses or lots within the Brisbane Local Government Area.
Tips:
Check that the address is correct with exact spelling and punctuation.
You can also search for a Lot Plan or a suburb name.
Clicking on the empty search box pulls down the last 5 recent searches. You can remove these at any time.
You need to enter in your address if you swap between the standard map and the advanced map (this map has more options for switching on layers).
If the map doesn’t display or does not show a result when searching, submit a feedback form listing the address. If you would like to be contacted about this, list your best contact details. You can also phone Council.
To see the February 2022 flood layer, select the ‘Layers’ icon at the top right on the Flood Awareness Map.
You can do this before or after searching a property. The ‘Flooding – all types’ option will have the check box ticked by default. Click on the check box so that the tick disappears – this turns this layers group OFF.
Click on the check box for ‘Historical flooding’ so that a tick appears – this turns this layer group ON.
From here, you can select which historical flooding layer to show. The definitions tab contains useful information to read when viewing historical flooding layers.
To see the layers in the ‘Flooding – all types’ group, reverse these steps.
For the best experience, use a laptop or desktop to access the Flood Awareness Map. If imagery does not display properly, try zooming out.
The Flood awareness Map will turn white if you have zoomed in too close.
Zoom out by using the minus button (-) on a desktop or pinch out on the screen on a mobile or tablet and the map will re-appear.
Council has a duty of care to inform residents of potential risk. Every flood event is different and flooding worse than that experienced previously can occur. Knowing the full range of flood risk – from the most frequent to the very rare – helps property owners to plan and prepare for flooding.
If building or developing, understanding the higher range of possible flood levels for your property will allow you to consider whether even greater flood resilience – such as building above the minimum habitable floor level – is an option.
Council has no control over how its flood information will be used by third parties. Insurance companies have access to flood risk data from a number of sources and may use their own flood mapping to determine premiums relating to flood risk.
Council has a duty of care to provide the most up to date flood information to Brisbane residents so they can be safe, confident and ready for potential future flooding.
Council understands that ground levels, floor levels and flood levels for a property may change over time as our city and individual properties are developed.
You can request a review of the flood levels in the FloodWise Property Report by writing to Council. Learn more about the technical review process.