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Understand your flood, storm, cyclone, heatwave and bushfire risk. Learn about flooding in Brisbane. Sign up for severe weather alerts.

Natural disasters and emergencies in Brisbane

Everyone visiting or living in Brisbane needs to be aware of the risk of severe weather and natural disasters.

Brisbane is a river city with a subtropical climate. This means you can experience intense storms in spring and in the hot, humid summer months. In winter, you can expect dry and mild conditions.

Brisbane’s climate and unique landscape make it prone to severe weather events. Occasionally, these events cause natural disasters.

Types of natural disasters

The most common types of natural disasters experienced in Brisbane include:

  • flooding from heavy rainfall
  • severe storms, with the risk of large hail, damaging winds and heavy rainfall
  • bushfires
  • heatwaves.

Knowing your risk can help you protect yourself, your family, your home and your business.

Use the tools on this page to check your risk so you can prepare for an emergency.

Other types of disasters

Visit the Get Ready Queensland website for information on what to do before, during and after these other types of disaster events:

Brisbane Severe Weather Alerts

The Brisbane Severe Weather Alert Service provides severe weather event notification for your local area, supporting 6 languages. Alerts can cover severe thunderstorms, destructive winds, cyclones, flooding and planned burns.

Register to receive alerts by email, SMS or phone. Phone alerts may display as 'BoM Update' or 'BCC Alert'.

Learn more about the alert service
Close-up of a woman's hand at a fair standing in front of a Brisbane Severe Weather Alert advertising A-frame. and pointing to Weatherzone app on smartphone.

Check your flood risk

Brisbane is naturally at risk of flooding due to its:

  • location on the floodplain of the Brisbane River
  • network of creek catchments
  • terrain featuring low-lying areas
  • subtropical weather patterns, including a storm season which typically runs from October to March.

Council’s Flood Awareness Map helps you understand your flood risk. It shows the likelihood of flooding on your property from different sources.

The Brisbane flood map is based on data from the latest flood studies and models endorsed by Council.

The map:

  • covers the Brisbane Local Government Area
  • shows possible flood extents, based on the best data available to Council
  • shows historic flood events
  • doesn’t show flooding in real-time.

Check your flood risk video

>>Brisbane is prone to flooding due to its location near the Brisbane River, creeks, and low-lying areas.

Weather conditions can change quickly. Do you know your flood risk? Visit Brisbane City Council's website and search 'check your risk'.

Enter your address to view flood maps for your property. Learn about the likelihood of your property being affected by different flood types and access historical data and resources to increase your flood resilience.

Visit brisbane.qld.gov.au and search 'check your risk' for more information. 

How to use the Flood Awareness Map

Before searching for a property on the Flood Awareness Map, it is important to understand the terms 'flood likelihood' and 'impact'.

The terms 'likelihood' and 'impact' are used by Council to explain the chances of floods occurring. These terms are used in the Flood Awareness Map, which is an awareness tool to display the probability of a flood occurring from one or more sources including creek, river and storm tide. It also shows the impact of overland flow flooding.

Once you have read this information, use the map to check your flooding risk.

  1. Search your property using your address, lot plan or suburb.
  2. Toggle the map layers to view the likelihood (very low – high) of different types of flooding.
  3. Use the map layers to see if your property was affected by past flood events.
  4. View the legend and definitions to help you understand the map layers.
Check your flood risk

Visit the Bureau of Meteorology website for general information on floods and flood safety.

The Bureau of Meteorology has its own terms and conditions of use. Council makes no statements, representations or warranties about the accuracy, correctness, timeliness, completeness of fitness for any purpose or use of information contained on the Bureau of Meteorology’s website.

To the full extent permitted by law, Council excludes all responsibility and liability (including without limitation, liability in negligence) for:

  • information contained on the Bureau of Meteorology website or any linked website
  • any decisions made or actions taken on the basis of such information
  • any losses, liability, damages, claims, expenses and costs a user may incur, suffer or sustain as a result of the information on this website or any linked website being inaccurate, erroneous or incomplete in any way for any reason.

Types of flooding

There are 4 common types of flooding in Brisbane. Learn about the different flood types to understand:

  • causes of flooding in Brisbane
  • where and when flooding is likely to happen
  • floodwater behaviour.

Creek flooding is caused by heavy rainfall over or near a creek catchment. Run-off from houses and streets can also contribute by adding to the water already in the creek.

River flooding can also impact creek levels. Floodwater can rise quickly and be very fast moving, and then recede quickly.

Living in low-lying areas located close to a creek can increase your risk of flooding.

River flooding is caused by prolonged rainfall over the river catchment. Floodwater can rise very slowly.

Flooding downstream can happen hours or days after the rain has stopped. High tides can exacerbate river flooding.

The closer you live to the river, the higher your risk of flooding.

Overland flow flooding is caused when excess rainwater flows over land. This usually happens during heavy rainfall in storm season.

Overland flow flooding is less predictable because it’s affected by localised rainfall, the landscape and urban features (e.g. roads, stormwater pipes, fences and other structures).

It generally occurs quickly and lasts for short periods of time.

Storm tide and high tide flooding is caused by rising sea levels associated with storm surges or full/new moon high tides.

Flooding impacts low-lying areas and streets close to tidal waterways (Brisbane River and creeks) and foreshores. The closer you live to these areas, the higher your risk of flooding.

Types of flooding in Brisbane video

>>The Brisbane Local Government Area contains more than 4,000 kilometres of waterways.

Brisbane experiences flooding from four sources and it’s important to understand these and to be prepared. This will help you stay safe, confident and ready for flood.

Creek flooding in Brisbane occurs when there is prolonged rainfall over a creek catchment. Intense rainfall, over an already saturated catchment, during the summer storm season could also result in creek flooding.

River flooding occurs when the river reaches capacity and excess water flows over its banks or backs up through the drainage system as backflow. This happens when there is widespread and prolonged rainfall over the upper catchments of the Brisbane River and can lead to floods in adjacent creeks. River flooding can occur hours after the rain has stopped.

Overland flow is the most common type of flooding during the summer storm season in Brisbane and can be unpredictable. It is the stormwater run-off that travels over the land when there are heavy rainfall events. It’s fast-moving and generally lasts for a short duration.

Storm tide flooding happens when there are higher than normal sea levels caused by a storm surge and is more likely to occur when there is high tides or king tides. This type of flooding affects low-lying areas close to tidal waterways and foreshores.

Use Brisbane City Council’s Flood Awareness Map to view a property and understand the likelihood of flooding from these flood sources on a property or in a suburb.

Council’s Flood Information Online can help residents and visitors stay safe, confident and ready.

Other flooding hazards

Flash flooding is flooding characterised by fast-moving and rapidly rising water levels. It’s often caused by periods of intense rainfall and can develop within minutes or hours.

Dams in the Brisbane Local Government Area are designed to spill when the water level gets too high. This can lead to localised flooding and road closures. If you live downstream of a dam, you are at a higher risk of flooding from dam spills.

For alerts on dam releases from Seqwater dams, visit Seqwater.

Backflow devices reduce the chance of water flowing back up stormwater drainage. Flooding from other sources can still occur where backflow devices are in place. This depends on the location and conditions.

Be prepared for heatwaves

Heatwaves are Brisbane’s fourth highest priority natural hazard, and the deadliest. They cause more deaths than any other natural hazard and can also increase the risk of bushfires.

A heatwave occurs when the maximum and minimum temperatures are unusually hot over 3 or more days for a specific location. It's not just about hot day — how much it cools down overnight also matters.

Cooler nights help the body recover from daytime heat. When overnight temperatures stay high, the next day can heat up faster and stay hotter for longer.

During a heatwave, hot nights make it harder for the body to cool down and recover. This can increase stress on your health.

Extreme heat in Brisbane is most likely to occur between November and March, though it can occur at any time.

Heatwaves can affect everyone, but some people are more at risk of heat-related health illness. This includes babies and young people, the elderly, pregnant and breastfeeding women, people with medical conditions, and those who work outdoors.

Make sure you are prepared for heatwaves by checking for heatwave warnings from the Bureau of Meteorology.

How to beat the heat

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Drink water often

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Keep out of the heat as much as possible

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Stay somewhere cool

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Never leave children, older people or pets in cars

You can get more hot weather health and safety advice from the Queensland Government.

Be bushfire aware

The risk of bushfires is highest during the hotter and drier months of the year.

South East Queensland’s bushfire season typically runs from August to December. This can vary depending on the condition of local bushland, long-term climate conditions and other weather events.

You don’t have to live in the bush to be threatened by bushfires, just close enough to be affected by burning material, embers and smoke.

Smoke from bushfires can make it hard for some people to breathe. Learn how to protect yourself from smoke.

Search your postcode

People living in bushland or rural residential areas are at higher risk of bushfires. However, smoke, embers and burning materials can impact urban areas, too.

You can check your area’s bushfire risk using the Queensland Fire Department’s postcode checker.

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Note

Queensland Fire Department has more information on how to assess your fire risk.

Planned burns

We conduct planned burns to maintain the health of our bushland and lessen the risk of wildfires.

Planned burns reduce the amount of materials that can fuel fires, such as dead wood. They are sometimes called hazard reduction burns.

Frequently asked questions

There are steps you can take to prepare your home, family and business for emergencies in Brisbane. These include checking your risk, packing an emergency kit and having an emergency plan in place.

Council’s Flood Awareness Map was updated in December 2023. The Brisbane flood map is continually updated with the latest flood studies and models endorsed by Council.

The Queensland Government has a range of tools and resources to help assess your risk. Visit Get Ready Queensland.