PropertyFlags · guideHow to check if a property is in a flood zone in Queensland
Queensland does not have one flood map, it has three kinds of them, and they answer different questions. Here is what each one is, how to get it free for Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Moreton Bay, and the trap that caught thousands of people in February 2022.
The three layers, in the order they matter
First, the planning scheme flood overlay. This is the layer with legal teeth. If the lot sits inside the flood planning area, building work faces flood requirements: minimum floor levels, materials, sometimes a hydraulic report. Every south east Queensland council maps one, and it is public.
Second, the council flood report for the individual lot. Brisbane City Council publishes the FloodWise property report free for any address, and it is the most useful document in this whole list because it gives modelled flood levels rather than a yes or no. The Gold Coast and Moreton Bay both issue their own property flood reports on request.
Third, FloodCheck Queensland, the state portal run by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority. It carries flood studies and historic flood extents, including the 1974 lines for Brisbane and Ipswich and the interim lines from the 2010 to 2011 floods. Historic extents are evidence of what water has actually done, which is a different question from what the current model predicts.
The February 2022 problem
Brisbane's flood awareness mapping is built from studies finished before the February 2022 flood. That flood put water through streets that the mapping does not show as affected. The mapping has not been wrong so much as out of date, and the gap matters because it runs the wrong way: a clear result on that layer is not proof the house stayed dry three years ago.
This is why we report the vintage of the mapping next to the result rather than printing a bare green tick. If a service tells you a Brisbane address is not in a flood zone without saying which map and from which year, it is not telling you enough to make a decision with.
How to check it yourself, free, in about ten minutes
For a Brisbane address, search for the council FloodWise property report and enter the address. Read the levels, not just the headline. For the Gold Coast or Moreton Bay, use the council's own flood report request, and open the planning scheme mapping to see whether the flood overlay touches the lot.
Then open FloodCheck Queensland and look at the historic extents for the area. Finally, ring an insurer with the exact address. Four windows, ten minutes, and you know more about the flood risk than most people know on auction day.
The 60 second version
A PropertyFlags report queries these layers live for the exact address: the council flood overlay, Brisbane's per lot flood metrics where the council publishes them, and the FloodCheck historic extents for 1974 and 2010 to 2011. A hit is a red flag with the layer and its vintage named. Where a council does not publish a layer, we say that the layer was not checked rather than counting the address as clear. The same report covers zoning, bushfire, landslide, aircraft noise, koala habitat, development approvals nearby and more.
Run a free flag count on a Queensland address → · See a Queensland sample report · The same question in NSW · The full due diligence checklist
Common questions
Is there one official flood map for Queensland?
No. Three separate things get called the flood map. The council planning scheme flood overlay decides what you may build. The council flood report, such as Brisbane's FloodWise property report, gives modelled levels for the lot. FloodCheck Queensland, run by the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, holds statewide flood studies and historic flood lines. A property can be flagged on one and clear on another, so the layer has to be named with the answer.
How do I check a Brisbane address for flooding, free?
Brisbane City Council publishes a free FloodWise property report for every lot. It gives the flood levels the council models for that address for river, creek and overland flow, and storm tide where it applies. It is the single most useful free document for a Brisbane property, and it is worth reading before you go to an open home rather than after.
Does the mapping include the 2022 flood?
Not everywhere. Brisbane's flood awareness mapping is drawn from studies completed before February 2022, so a house that took water in 2022 can still sit outside the mapped extent. Anyone quoting that mapping as proof a property does not flood is quoting a map that predates the flood people remember. Ask neighbours, and read the historic flood lines as well as the current overlay.
What about the Gold Coast and Moreton Bay?
Both councils map a flood planning area in the planning scheme, and both publish their own flood report for a property. Neither publishes an open per lot flood level dataset the way Brisbane does, so the free public layer tells you whether the lot is inside the overlay, not how deep the water gets. For depth you order the council flood report for that address.
The seller says the property has never flooded. Is that enough?
No, and it is not a document. Queensland sellers are not required to hand over a flood history, and the person selling may have owned the house for two dry years. The checkable version is the council flood report for the lot, the planning scheme overlay, and the historic flood extents from 1974 and 2010 to 2011 where they are mapped for that area.
Does a flood overlay affect insurance?
Usually, but not through the overlay itself. Insurers price flood from their own national models, which do not always agree with council mapping in either direction. Get a real insurance quote on the exact address before you commit, because in parts of south east Queensland the flood premium is large enough to change what the home costs to own.