FloodWise Property Reports

This is a video transcript of the How to read a FloodWise Property Report Part 1 video hosted on Brisbane City Council's YouTube channel. This video is 5 minutes and 50 seconds long.

>>Female voice: Brisbane City Council is helping residents to be resilient and ready for flooding. 

Council’s FloodWise Property Report is a technical report to guide planning and building in Brisbane. 

It will help you understand flooding risk on a property as well as applicable historic flood levels and survey levels so that you can build in accordance with Brisbane City Council's planning requirements in CityPlan.  

To access a FloodWise Property Report, go to the main page of Council’s Flood Information Online. 

Firstly select, “I am a resident, business or visitor” and then select “I want to search the Flood Awareness Map to check for flooding on a property”. Once the map opens, use the search bar to search for the property, then click the Technical FloodWise Property Report button. 

The second way is to select “I am in construction or development”, then choose “I want a technical FloodWise Property Report”. Enter an address or lot number, select the right option from the drop-down addresses, and then click the blue arrow. 

The FloodWise Property Report will open in a new tab and may take up to 20 seconds to generate. 

The first page of the report provides general flood and survey information about a property if applicable.  The remaining technical details in the report are covered in a separate video. 

The header includes the property address or lot number. If an address has more than three lots, there will be message saying these will be shown in the appendix on the last page.  

Check the header to be sure you have the report for the correct property.  

The opening paragraph explains that this is a technical report for building and development and uses the adopted flood planning information in CityPlan.  

If there are no flood levels on the property for river, creek or storm tide for 1% through to 20% annual likelihood, this message will show on the report.  

This simply means that these types of flooding will not affect residential building or development requirements.  

It is important to note that flooding may still present a risk and could include overland flow which will be shown as a Property Development Flag further down the report.  

The property may also be affected by rarer flood events such as the 0.2% annual likelihood, and if present will be shown in the Flood Planning Information Table.  

A graph will be shown when flood levels are applicable for residential building and development are present on a property. 

The vertical axis on the left shows elevation above sea level. This is also known as meters AHD which means Australian Height Datum. It is a reference for defining ground levels above sea level in Australia.  

The horizontal axis along the bottom shows the likelihood of a flood occurring annually. This goes from 20% Annual Exceedance Probability being the most likely, down to 1% which is the least likely. Annual Exceedance Probability, or AEP is the probability of a flood event of a given size occurring in any one year. It will also show if flood levels were recorded for the latest historic flood events in January 2011 and February 2022.  

The green bar running along the graph shows the minimum and maximum ground levels for the property. It shows the elevation of the land above sea level. Here the minimum ground level is 5.6m and the maximum ground level 6.5m.   

The dotted line represents the property’s Indicative Existing Floor Level. This is the approximate level in metres above sea level of the lowest habitable floor in the existing building. Here it is recorded at 6.7m. Some properties may have no floor level shown.

The vertical bars on the graph show the highest type of flooding on the property for the different likelihood events. There may be various types of flooding present.  

Firstly, it is important to note that the value or number above these bars does not indicate the depth of flood water.  

The colours of the bars relate to the legend below. Flooding from river shown is shown in shades of brown, flooding from storm tide is shown in shades of orange to pale pink and flooding from creek shown is shown in shades of blue. 

This example shows flooding from storm tide. In this case flood levels are shown for 5%, 2% and 1% annual likelihoods. Flood levels are to be read in conjunction with the minimum and maximum ground levels. In this example the 1% annual likelihood is 20cm above the maximum ground level and may affect up to 100% of the property. The existing floor level shows 4m above sea level, indicating that the lowest habitable area of the property is well above this flood level. The yellow bar shows the February 2022 flood level at 3.4m.

The bottom of the first page shows an aerial map for the address or lot which will have a red border.  

The shading shows where the combined 1% annual likelihood of flooding from river, creek and storm tide will occur. This flood extent is taken from the adopted flood levels in City Plan.  

In many cases no flooding will show on a property. In other cases where 1% flooding is present, the shading will either fully or partially cover the property.  

For more technical information about reading the rest of the FloodWise Property Report, watch How to Read a FloodWise Property Report video part 2. 

Council’s Flood Information Online is helping residents and visitors stay safe, confident and ready. 

This is a video transcript of the How to read a FloodWise Property Report part 2 video hosted on Brisbane City Council's YouTube channel. This video is 5 minutes and 51 seconds long.  

>>Female Voice: Brisbane City Council is helping residents to be resilient and ready for flooding.  

Council’s FloodWise Property Report is a technical report to guide planning and building in Brisbane.  

It will help you understand the modelled flood risk on a property so that you can build in accordance with Brisbane City Council's planning requirements in City Plan.   

This video will explain the FloodWise Property Report from page two on. Page one is covered in the part one video

This is the technical section of the report and is intended to assist surveyors, builders, certifiers, architects, town planners and engineers to plan and build in accordance with Council's planning scheme. 

In this section, if the property has no modelled or historic flood levels, this area will be blank.  

If flooding is shown on a graph on the first page, then this Property Information Summary table will display. It is a quick snapshot of the minimum and maximum ground levels, the indicative existing floor level and it also shows the highest source of flooding. In this case it is from storm tide.  

The far-right column is marked Data Quality Code. These letters include A, B and C, and relate to how Council obtained the data for these levels. Explanations are in the “Useful Definitions” section further down the report.

The Flood Planning Information table shows a snapshot of the likelihood of flooding from river, creek and storm tide.  

It will include the annual chance or likelihood of flooding for 20%, 5%, 2%, 1% and 0.2% AEP where applicable.    

20% AEP is considered a regular event, whereas 0.2% AEP is considered a rare event.  

The flood levels are shown as meters AHD, which means Australia Height Datum and is an agreed national vertical datum with mean sea level being 0.0m AHD. All levels shown here are the elevation above mean sea level.  

Here we have a mix of river, creek and storm tide. The creek / waterway flood type will also include the name of the creek or catchment in brackets. River flooding shows the Brisbane River as the source.  

Historic flooding, if applicable, will also show in this table. In this example the February 2022 flood event is displayed with the source being the Brisbane River.  

The final row of the table may show the Minimum Habitable Floor Level for a dwelling house. This equates to the 1% AEP flood level of the highest flood type plus 0.5m. This is the minimum level in metres AHD at which habitable areas of a development must be constructed as required by City Plan. 

In this next example we see a level and source for the Defined Flood Level or DFL. This is used for commercial and industrial developments. Refer to the Useful Definitions in the report and City Plan for more details.

The Residential Flood Level or RFL, simply equates to the 1% annual likelihood of flooding from the Brisbane River.  

The Flood Planning and Development Information section of the FloodWise Property Report contains information about Council's planning scheme overlays. 

The Flood Overlay Code guides the future development of land at risk of flooding within defined Flood Planning Areas or FPAs.  

Flood Planning Areas outline development requirements for a property based on flood likelihood, depth and velocity.  

This table shows if the flood overlay code may apply to a property from river, creek/waterway, and overland flow flooding.  

In this example there are no overlays for river or overland flow, however two Flood Planning Areas apply to this property for creek or waterway. Search Flood Planning Areas on Council’s website for more information.

Depending on the location of the property, it may be subjected to planning overlays. In this example we see the property is within the Coastal Hazard overlay and hence the Coastal Hazard Overlay Code in City Plan applies. The table below shows the sub-categories. Development guidelines for the coastal hazard overlay sub-categories are explained in City Plan.  

Property Development Flags may be shown in this section and may include a waterway corridor, overland flow path or large allotment flag. A large allotment flag appears if the property is over 1000 square meters or is located within a Large Allotment. Ground levels may vary across the property and Council recommends further investigations to determine variations in flood levels. 

Other property information flags may appear next. This may include a flag advising the property is located near a Brisbane River Backflow Device or if a property is located in an area near a referable dam.   

A flag may also appear if the property that has participated in the Flood Resilient Homes Program. Details about works can only be obtained by the property owner.  

The “Useful Definitions” is a quick reference for the key terminology in the report.

The bottom of the report may show an appendix with a list of lot numbers which will only apply when there are more than three lots.

The FloodWise Property Report is a technical document to help guide planning and development in Brisbane.  

Should you require professional advice about information in the report, Council recommends engaging a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland.

Brisbane City Council’s Flood Information Online is helping residents and visitors stay safe, confident and ready.