You’re right, Gordon. I live in the Northern Rivers of NSW, one hour’s drive from Qld. I am fortunate to live on the coast, so we enjoy sea breezes. Actually, I’ve heard Ballina has the mildest climate in NSW. That is, the highest average minimum temperature & the lowest average maximum temperature. We are surrounded by water & the ocean carries a warm current from the north. However, Ballina is an Island & none of our governments - local, state or federal, appear to be bothered about stopping the rising salt water. In fact, our local council continues to develop the flood plain by using fill to raise it above the flood, leaving farmers & other rural folk an even bigger problem. You can fill for a home site but you can’t fill a farm.
If there is one thing you can guarantee about building on a flood plain, sooner or later you will get flooded!
As the sea levels keep rising there may be a good case for taking action against local councils who persist with this development at any cost craziness, although with a bit of thought buyers would have to know it was risky in the long term. Daylight Saving wont save them. (just to keep it on topic 
)
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Go as far north as you choose and away from Daylight saving, the same lack of understanding of the cycles of the sun the moon the tides and flooding is equally prevalent. Mackay and Townsville are but two more that have developed large areas of low land adjacent to rivers or reclaimed from mangroves.
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Yes, I apologise for going off-topic, though Daylight Saving is a State Govt issue & in NSW, the State Planning Dept has the power of veto over our local council on planning issues (and they HAVE overturned some important decisions that local people fully engaged in to make sure highrise was limited, for example. Now there has been a precedent set, there’s no stopping it now). Who knows, there were some Councillors, including the Mayor at the time, who gave lip service to the people, while knowing NSW would do what they ended up doing. It seems none of them can be trusted to act for the people who pay their kushy salaries.
In reply to your comment regarding taking legal action against local councils who persist with inappropriate development, they have it all sewn up. They outsource a local company to complete an inundation report, full of cuts and pastes saying the development will have a plus or minus 1cm difference if the ocean rises by 90cm. I have skin in this game and lost emotionally and financially as a result. We attended a public meeting of hundreds of concerned residents because the Council is required to facilitate “Community Consultation”, but we found out later that the deal had already been done with the developer, one-two years prior, when the placement of the by-pass was made.
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Ironically, it floods in the middle of a drought, if there’s a king tide. And salt water coming up through the storm water drains is a whole lot worse than muddy fresh flood water. Everything rusts! When both occur at the same time (so often the biggest storms arrive at the same time as the spring tides, on the new and full moons), and we have a perfect storm! Just add a tidal surge (& climate change guarantees more extreme storms), and it was enough for us to decide to move off the island when my entire block and garage went under water. Lucky the house was stumped up so the water just sat underneath the whole house.
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That sounds like my brother’s old place in Windsor, Brisbane. Any time the tide was high, seawater would flood up through the gutter drainage into the street. That’s going to be fun for people over the next few decades of sea level rise!
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Shhh Gordon. We’re not allowed to mention the war.
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Re how agents describe properties it would be the hottest waterfront property on the market. Caveat emptor!
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Umm, 
, Northey Esplanade, Downey Bridge Parade, Albion Watersports Drive…
A missed opportunity, assuming council and the property developers could find dry oops, common ground?
P.S.
I’ve simply amended the street names slightly from those in that area to something more exciting, to improve the buyer experience. Equally sensible for any other place with a similar flooding issue. Ocean View and Riverview though have already been used as suburb names if you have a large number of streets in your area and are looking for a broader makeover. Mangrove Plains is apparently still available, but Midge Point has also been used. 
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My property is divided by a river. When I was negotiating approvals for building my house the Council declared that I must take note of flood issues when situating the house on the block (large block). I asked to see their flood study. There isn’t one. I asked the neighbours who pointed out the level of the highest flood they had seen or their ancestors had told them of. There were some arguments as to whether the great flood of 55 or the big flood of 72 was higher. Nonetheless their advice was good. I picked a spot, the Council approved all is well.
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I have a friend who is an elderly farmer & he had to raise his home site (on which he built a very large shed, with his caravan inside). But now when it floods he’s cut off and to make matters much much worse, the floodwater just sits there stagnant, rotting the grass and breeding mosquitoes, because the floodplain isn’t free to run its natural course due to inappropriate development. He argued vehemently with the Council that fill soil (to accommodate the new bypass) would block the natural drainage of floodwaters, but they went ahead anyway. As I mentioned earlier, the deal was already in progress with the Developer of a new residential estate, behind closed doors.
I think he has a good case to sue, but he’s an old man in his eighties who’s wise enough to know he’s better off enjoying his life than waste what’s left fighting and losing against an entity who has more money than he.
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The whole town here is 600 metres above sea level - yet we are in a flood zone.
It’s also the closest town to every beach in Australia, so I guess that makes sense … for flooding … doesn’t it?
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I have no idea what that means.
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… it means my town is, give or take, equally close to all beaches in Australia. (which means we are a long way from any of them but closer than anyone to all of them at the same time, except perhaps Ellery Creek Big Hole, or my favourite, Glen Helen). It’s just a thing said by locals to make us feel better about being 1500 kilometres or more from actual sea or ocean 
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And Toowoomba likewise.
691 metres above sea level but notorious for flooding.
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I hope everyone had their flood evacuation plans up to date and ready to go!
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I wouldn’t have shared that. Somethings are best kept quiet.
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I pray the tide turns for the better, for all the people of Alice. So much for healing, especially after the Statement from the Heart was immediately rejected by the govt.
Australia needs to grow up and to accept sovereignty has never been ceded and our Constitution is based on a wicked lie.
There have been numerous recent news items and calls to better respond to flood events. These have included:
- dam building,
- levies,
- better emergency response,
- flood resilient housing,
- relocation.
There are historical reasons as to why towns have been built in flood prone or at risk sites. What lessons have been learnt?
None, zero, zilch …… might be the response of those caught out.
Why is development permitted in locations that are flood prone, at risk of tidal surges, or to damage from inadequate flood protection?
A failure of leadership combined with economic opportunistic development that lacks integrity in the decision making processes, is one plausible explanation.
The hapless victims include not just home owners, but many business owners and the jobs that go with them. The whole of the Australian community pays a high price through disruption, draw downs on government support/funding and higher insurance costs.
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I suspect the history of developers’ donations and governments’ thirst for income would answer the question. Brick houses on slabs next to flood prone rivers might be more rewarding financially, but as a minimum elevated frame houses per traditional coastal norms would be an improvement. Both would have nice views of the river.
The best our pollies will probably do at the end of the day is some hand wringing and lobbying government to keep funding the perpetual holes those affected experience… the model reflects how they subsidise private health.
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