‘Lines drawn across our front yard’: New flood zones to cost some homeowners
The Brisbane City Council has struck almost 1000 properties off its list of flood-prone properties, and changed the status of several thousand more, in an update to mapping for its City Plan.
In what the council described as a routine change, owners of properties in affected areas – including Kedron Brook, Brighton Creek, Toowong Creek, Sandy Creek and Witton Creek catchments – were mailed about the changes before they appeared online last week.
Stephen Green is a resident in Gordon Park – one of several suburbs nestled on the banks of Kedron Brook in Brisbane’s north – and is among those who got a letter in the mail.
While 797 properties in the Kedron Brook catchment were taken off the flood maps in the latest update, Green was in the opposite situation, with flood overlay added to his property.
The council did not say how many homes were added to flood-affected zones in its most recent update.
“The latest flood maps have come out with the lines drawn essentially across our front yard, which has had a pretty decent impact on insurance,” he said.
After only a few days’ rain this week, puddles are slow to drain from street level in parts of Gordon Park backing onto Kedron Brook.Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
Across the road from Green’s property, houses back onto the green spaces bordering Kedron Brook. He said when he bought his home in 2018, it was not considered flood-prone.
“It didn’t flood in ’74, it didn’t flood in 2011, and certainly didn’t flood in 2022,” he said.
“There was a bit of water in the street, but that was mainly from council drainage.
“There’s no historic record of the property having any impact from flooding, but apparently the potential is there.”
Tracy Davis, the chair of the Brisbane City Council’s environment, parks and sustainability committee, said in October the updates would reflect findings from recent hydrological studies.
“We’re continually seeking the most recent and detailed information to inform the range of free flood resources council offers to residents,” she said.
“No flood is the same, and we must ensure residents are armed with the correct information to help them prepare based on their own flooding risk.”
The new overlays are based on five flood studies completed between September 2023 and June 2024. Over the past 10 years, the council has done 28 similar studies.
Like other Australians, many Brisbane residents have spent the last year copping higher premiums on home insurance – making flood predictions a sensitive topic.
The Insurance Council of Australia said “upward pressure” had been put on insurance premiums across the country from factors that included inflation, higher house prices and the higher cost of disaster recovery efforts.
“Insurance prices risk, and a higher premium generally indicates higher risk. Flood maps are just one part of what is used to calculate this,” an ICA spokeswoman said.
The council’s flood overlay codes also inform future development, through building codes specific to different flood zones, though existing buildings would not be affected by changes to the maps.
With much of Brisbane built on a flood plain, Green said that the risk of flooding came with the territory for Gordon Park residents.
Almost 1000 properties bordering Kedron Brook, Brighton Creek, Toowong Creek, Sandy Creek and Witton Creek were removed from the council’s most recent flood maps. Credit: Catherine Strohfeldt
“I think Gordon Park, in general, when it was designed in 1800-whatever, probably wasn’t designed for the amount of houses and humans that are in the area now,” he said.
“It’s a lovely part of the world, and being so close to the brook is probably worth that risk, given that for 99.9 per cent of the time it’s not raining [and] there’s no issue.”
The updated flood overlay map can be accessed on the Brisbane City Council website.
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