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THOUSANDS of homes in the Jimboomba region have been identified as being at risk of flooding in new city wide flood maps released by Logan City Council.

For affected residents, the new maps may mean higher insurance premiums, building restrictions or even a decline in property values.

The new maps, two years in the making, were released last week ahead of the upcoming wet season and on the back of the 2011 Flood Commission of Inquiry Interim Report which earlier this year recommended councils do all they could to ensure residents were flood ready.

The maps are based on a 100-year average Recurrence Interval (ARI) event, or, a flood that has a one per cent chance of being equalled or exceeded at least once in any given year.

In comparison, the flooding experienced in Logan earlier this year had a 10 to 20 per cent chance of being equalled or exceeded at least once in any given year.

Council has identified about 18,500 properties at risk, with about 5500 of those not previously identified as being at risk.

The tenants and owners of impacted properties should have last week received a letter from council about the new flood modelling.

Logan City Council was unable to supply the Times with suburb specific breakdown of the newly affected properties, but a council spokeswoman said “several thousand” of them were in the Jimboomba region, in areas formerly part of Beaudesert Shire.

The new maps go beyond existing data used in the former Beaudesert Shire areas, with the previous council relying on the 1974 flood level as a baseline and requiring developers to do their own flood studies when submitting development applications.

Deputy Mayor Russell Lutton (pictured above with Logan City Council director of roads and infrastructure Stewart Wall) said the new flood maps had been developed using the most up-to-date rainfall and catchment information.

He encouraged all residents to visit council’s website and view the map relevant to their area to ensure they were flood ready.

Council has produced several fact sheets on the new flood modelling and prepared its call centre to handle questions on the issue. It will also host a series of information workshops across the city in coming weeks.

However, Cr Lutton said the issue of impacts to property values was one the council could not alleviate.

Cr Lutton also encouraged residents on properties identified as being at risk to contact their insurance company to see if their premiums would change as a result of the new modelling.

Logan City Council will use the new flood maps to update council flood event communication plans and inform its new planning scheme which is currently being developed.

 • Details of the council’s flood mapping information sessions, as well as the updated maps, are available at www.logan.qld.gov.au