Guest Tweed Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hi all We are looking to move to Queensland mid February and to this end did a reccie back in September. One of the areas that we really liked was Upper Coomera between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, however I'm quite worried about how much of a flood prone area this is. Any advice from people in the area would be much appreciated. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest30038 Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 In a nutshell.................chance of flooding is not minimal but very real in lower lying areas. You have the nerang, coomera, and pimpama river all feeding the area. Added to that, not only rainfall but several king tides every year and it isn't designated a floodplain for nothing, although much mitigation has been carried out over the years. My personal opinion is that wherever you choose, make sure you choose high ground. I'm in an area that has been flooded twice since I've been here, but I built on high ground. Floods come with the territory I'm afraid, and you learn to live with it if you don't build/choose location wisely. If Brizzy and the Gold Coast had received the rainfall that further north has recently received, and it may yet, then the whole of the Gold Coast would have been in a much more dire strait than the Brizzy floods of 74. This is something I posted for a member who asked the same question a while back Good luck kev The Coomera River catchment is located immediately south of the Pimpama River (refer to Figure 9.7). It rises in the McPherson Ranges, passing around Canungra, Coomera and Oxenford and entering the northern Broadwater through Hope Island (GCCC 2000). There are a number of major tributaries and the lower reaches of the river are tidal, dividing into several channels forming islands on the lower floodplain. The land use distribution varies from rural in the upper reaches to large scale resort and residential along the lower floodplain tributaries. These include The Anabranch and Saltwater Creek. Coombabah Creek is another tributary which flows northwards into the Coomera from Coombabah Lake, an area of ecological importance. The Nerang River catchment is located in the southeast corner of Queensland and covers an area of 480 square kilometres (Figure 9.7). From its headwaters in the McPherson Ranges, the Nerang River flows in a northeasterly direction, through the Numinbah Valley, before entering Advancetown Lake created by the Hinze Dam where the Little Nerang River joins it. Downstream from the dam, it passes Nerang before turning eastwards to Benowa, Broadbeach Waters, Bundall and Surfers Paradise, entering the Pacific Ocean via The Broadwater and the Gold Coast Seaway. Mudgeeraba Creek drains a catchment of about 100 square kilometres extending south to Springbrook and enters the Nerang River only a few kilometres from its mouth. Mudgeeraba Creek is subject to flash flooding. Approximately two thirds of the catchment for the Nerang River is rural, mostly forested, open space with some grassland open space, such as golf courses and rural residential areas (GCCC 1997a & 1999b). The remainder of the catchment is urban, comprising residential, high density residential, commercial and industrial areas. The Nerang River floodplain system has an area of about 65 square kilometres, 9.12 much of which has been subject to development over many years and now consists of an extensive network of tidal canal estates. The only remaining undeveloped region is the Merrimac/Carrara floodplain comprising about 22 square kilometres between the Nerang River in the north and Mudgeeraba Creek in the south. Depending on the flood situation, the Hinze Dam, which commands about 42% of the total catchment area, reduces the severity of downstream flooding of the Nerang system, although a recurrence of rainfalls similar to, or higher than, those in the 1974 record flood would still cause significant flooding. In the southern Gold Coast area, Tallebudgera and Currumbin Creeks are adjacent catchments of 97 square kilometres and 63 square kilometres respectively. The headwaters are towards the southwest near Springbrook and flow essentially northeast to the sea. Both catchments are rural in the upper reaches but heavily developed in the lower reaches and floodplains with several lake/canal developments. Tallebudgera Creek is tidal for approximately 10 km upstream while Currumbin Creek is tidal downstream of a weir about 8 km from the mouth. Figure 9.6: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissofthegypsy Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Hi I have lived in coomera for 18 months and in that time we have had crap loads of rain and to be honest, the worst impacted seemed to be the people that lived on the rivers and had their boats released into the wild and ended up smashing them too bits. Upper Coomera is mostly above river level so you should be ok and the worst impacted areas do not seem to be around coomera, nerang, etc. If some parts of upper coomera ended up flooded the whole of australia would be in a lot of trouble lol. Good luck Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 These floods we have just had down here are some of the worst in 60 yrs and Coomera escaped realtively scott free so i wouldnt be worrying too much, just as Kev says maybe look for a higher lying plot if it worrys you. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest30038 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 These floods we have just had down here are some of the worst in 60 yrs and Coomera escaped realtively scott free so i wouldnt be worrying too much, just as Kev says maybe look for a higher lying plot if it worrys you. Cal x Cal's correct. Just look for a property on higher ground as I have known severe flooding over 10 yrs ago. I found the map that I posted previously. You will clearly see that despite giving planning permission, the council admits to properties at risk. Enlarge to 150% and you will see the houses that could be at risk. https://www.goldcoast.qld.gov.au/gcplanningscheme_0110/attachments/planning_scheme_maps/overlay_maps/OM17_POTENTIAL_FLOODING/OM17_18.pdf kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Kev did you see the map in the courier mail of all the inner city suburbs that are built on flood plains and at risk of flooding should the weather continue???? Its scarey especially if your new to the country and dont know what the storms/floods can be like. Definately worth making sure you can get flood cover on your insurance before buying a property. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest30038 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Kev did you see the map in the courier mail of all the inner city suburbs that are built on flood plains and at risk of flooding should the weather continue???? Its scarey especially if your new to the country and dont know what the storms/floods can be like. Definately worth making sure you can get flood cover on your insurance before buying a property. Cal x Yes I did Cal. What annoys me is how the insurance companies interpret "flood". Most of the local floods that I've seen from sunny to goldy wouldn't get honoured via insurance as the "flooding" is due in the main to blocked stormwater drains and creeks and, (if my memory serves me) is the responsibility of council if you want to claim. I watch the mowers cutting the nature strips............no buckets on 'em and all that grass and chopped up maccas wrappers goes down the drain at first sight of rain.........clogs the grills and then the rain backs up the estates, which is not interpreted as "flood". :rolleyes: All food for thought for newbies, when locating. kev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Kev did you see the map in the courier mail of all the inner city suburbs that are built on flood plains and at risk of flooding should the weather continue???? Its scarey especially if your new to the country and dont know what the storms/floods can be like. Definately worth making sure you can get flood cover on your insurance before buying a property. Cal x I found the brisbane city council online flood data invaluable. They give the 100 year flood level for each individual property (they map the lowest and highest altitude above sea level for each block and then tell you whether that is above recorded flood levels - done from a plane I think: Brisbane City Council Online Services Or the more general suburban maps: Flood Flag Map - Brisbane City Council Do you remember how long ago that courier mail report was cal? Would like to see the map if still online. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Kev did you see the map in the courier mail of all the inner city suburbs that are built on flood plains and at risk of flooding should the weather continue???? Its scarey especially if your new to the country and dont know what the storms/floods can be like. Definately worth making sure you can get flood cover on your insurance before buying a property. Cal x Most of the creeks flood across parks and industrial areas in the inner city. Some streets are involved near the creeks but it is made easy to see which by checking the flood maps. Granted the locals know where most of the flood prone areas are. Someone new really needs to make sure they use the maps available and if unsure double check. Was walking down in St Johns Wood (Ashgrove) the other day and got chatting to a local lady who pointed out a house on its lonesome next to Enoggera creek with two empty blocks beside it and no other houses on the same side of the road. The two empty blocks curiously both had driveways already. She said the council had bought and demolished the other two houses after the 74 floods due to the extent of the flooding but somehow this house escaped. It is now for sale....if you check the flood map for Ashgrove it is in the middle of the creek during a large flood :eek: Here it is: 6 Royal Parade, Ashgrove, Qld 4060 - House for Sale #106914800 - realestate.com.au (by the furnishings it looks like the same person from 74 is still living there - despite being out of fashion I enjoy looking at houses like this where they have kept their stuff in good condition for so long) It is such a beautiful area but I would buy a street back!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fish.01 Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hi all We are looking to move to Queensland mid February and to this end did a reccie back in September. One of the areas that we really liked was Upper Coomera between Brisbane and the Gold Coast, however I'm quite worried about how much of a flood prone area this is. Any advice from people in the area would be much appreciated. Thanks See Map 20: Gold Coast Planning Scheme 2003 Version 1.2 Amended January 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calNgary Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Hiya Fish im sorry i cant remember excatly but it was in the last few months and before this big flood. Kev the council here have got that lazy with mowing that if the big tractor (that does a crap job anyway) cant mow it - i,e- around sign posts etc they just bang loads of weedkiller down! It looks horrid and im sure if we did that to all our easements so we didnt have to mow them, they would play holey hell. Its sad as when we came under Beaudesert Council the area was kept immaculate. Cal x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tweed Posted January 5, 2011 Share Posted January 5, 2011 Thanks everybody, that's really helpful, lots of things to consider.:biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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