FAQs

Revising the flood study is essential to ensuring Ballina Shire has access to the most accurate, up-to-date information, reflecting advancements in technology, updated standards, and valuable new data gathered from recent major flood events.

• Changed Standards and Best Practice. Since 2008, there have been revisions to the published guidance on local rainfall, methodologies for estimating flood heights, updates on the climate change guidance, updates on modelling the interaction of catchment flooding and oceanic inundation in coastal water ways in NSW and updates to the NSW governments Flood Risk Management Manual. 
• Technological Advances in Flood Modelling. Development in computational speed coupled with the advances in software has enabled the expansion of the Ballina two-dimensional hydrodynamic model to cover larger areas and use higher resolution representation of the floodplain than has been possible in previous studies.
• New topographic data captured. Data collection techniques have also evolved and higher accuracy data is now more accessible. New topographic data was collected in 2023 to provide a more accurate, current representation of the floodplain.
• New flood data collected during and after major flood events. The Ballina flood model has not been calibrated since the 2008. The major flooding of 2022 has presented an opportunity to revisit the model calibration to ensure the new model reliably represents flood behaviour in the Ballina LGA

All flood studies undertaken by Ballina Shire Council provide up to date information to support town planning, guide future development and assist emergency response in future storms.