Predicting flood risk made easier

PROPERTY NEWS

It’s now easier for people find out their flood risk with City Council's new look FloodWise Property Report. Lord Mayor Cr Campbell Newman said council had redeveloped the FloodWise Property Report to make it more user-friendly.

"Severe storms and flooding are a natural part of living in Brisbane due to its subtropical climate, and whether we like it or not, Brisbane is built on a flood plain," he said.
"While we can never stop flooding from happening, we can give residents the tools to find out their flooding risk and help them to prepare." "The FloodWise Property Report gives residents a way to find out the flood risk for a property they live in, or wish to build, renovate, buy or rent, and the redesign has now made it easier for residents to understand the results produced by the report."
The Lord Mayor said the redevelopment of the FloodWise Property Report involved dividing the report into two sections to provide easy to comprehend information for residents, as well as a separate technical summary for engineers.
The new look report includes graphs of flood levels and the size of minimum living areas, a supplementary information section and a revision of all definitions to make reports easier to understand.
The FloodWise Property Report was initially introduced online in 2008 to deliver on recommendations handed down by the Lord Mayor's Taskforce on Suburban Flooding, an initiative which was instigated in 2005. Depending on the property, the report may show sources of flooding such as river, creek, and defined overland flow, predicted flood levels, minimum habitable floor levels and whether a property is located within a waterway corridor. More than 173,000 reports have been generated since the Floodwise Property Reports were introduced, with a record 30,000 reports requested by residents during October.
Also this week, flood warning lights on Shaw Road, Wooloowin became operational. Council invested $136,000 to install the lights, which will warn motorists when the road is affected by floodwaters.
The FloodWise Property Report is free and available through Council's website at www.brisbane.qld.gov.au or phoning Council on 3403 8888.