Flood information frequently asked questions

Flood Information Online is a site that contains Brisbane City Council’s Flood Awareness Map, FloodWise Property Report as well as links to flood information and education material. It is regularly updated as flood information is made available. Flood Information Online will help you understand current and modelled flooding on a property or in a general area and contains link to tips to prepare for flooding. 

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 technical 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.  

No real-time flooding information is available in Flood Information Online, however Council’s Emergency Dashboard provides useful real-time information on emergency incidents, traffic updates and outages posted by major services providers.

To report an issue or to give feedback, use the feedback form in Flood Information Online. It can be accessed by clicking on the menu located in the top right-hand corner of the screen.  

When applicable, these will be shown in the recent updates section of the landing page. City Plan updates are available at City Plan, or you can find more information about Council’s recent flood studies.  

Flood awareness maps are updated regularly as new flood studies are completed. Flood studies are available through Council’s open data portal.

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 FAM 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 are result when searching, please submit a feedback form listing the address. If you would like to be contacted about this, please list your best contact details. You can also call Council on 3403 8888. 

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, please 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. Please 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.

The updated FloodWise Property Report now includes improved graphs, aerial map and clearer layout to make it easier to understand how flooding may affect a property. Find more information about what’s included in a FloodWise Property Report.  

The option to generate a FloodWise Property report is available after you have searched for the address or lot number and it has appeared on the map.  

1. Open Flood Information Online and select the relevant “I am’ option for you. Then click on the “I want to search for a property on the Flood Awareness Map” button. 
2. A pop-up search bar appears. Type in an address or lot number into the search bar. As you type a drop-down list of address options appear. Select the address or lot required.  
3. 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. 
4. Select the ‘Generate a Technical FloodWise Property Report’ button.  
5. The FloodWise Property Report opens in a new window and may take up to 20 seconds to generate. 

Please note that on mobile and tablet, the PDF is directly downloaded onto your device. 

To quickly generate a FloodWise Property Report, open Flood Information Online and select “I am in construction/development”. Click on the “I want a technical FloodWise Property Report” button.  

A pop-up search bar appears. 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 or lot required.  

The FloodWise Property Report opens in a new window and may take up to 20 seconds to generate.  

The FloodWise Property Report opens in a new window and may take up to 20 seconds to generate. 

Council uses the best available information for the FloodWise Property Report, however some flooding sources may not be available when the report is produced. You can use the 1% Annual Exceedance Probability (AEP) level or Defined Flood Level for development purposes or alternatively consult a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland for a more detailed flood study of a property.   

If a property is a large allotment or within an overland flow path, Council is unable to supply an accurate minimum habitable floor level on the FloodWise Property Report. In this situation, Council recommends that you contact a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland to determine the minimum habitable floor level for a specific property.  

The graph used in the FloodWise Property Report is unable to display ground level values below sea level. You can find property ground levels in the Technical Summary section of the report.  

The FloodWise Property Report is based on the latest flood information in City Plan.  

If you do not agree or would like to dispute flood levels provided in the report, please follow the steps in Council’s technical review process.  

The FloodWise Property Report 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.

If search result does not display, submit a feedback form listing the address. If you would like to be contacted about this, list your best contact details. You can also call Council on 07 3403 8888.