FloodSafe Guides and Information

Get Prepared

Floods can happen with little warning, endangering lives and property. But you can take some basic steps right now to make yourself, your family, and your property safer.

Creating your Family Flood Plan is the best way to prepare for flooding. Your Family Flood Plan is a worksheet that you fill out with the specific information your family needs to prepare for a flood -- and, if necessary, evacuate safely. Because your family situation is unique, it's important to take an hour to fill out your Family Flood Plan.

Follow this link to download a Family Flood Plan Worksheet (pdf 125kb).

We recommend you consult with us to make the best use of the Family Flood Plan Worksheet. You can reach our FloodSafe Community Education Office on 02 8811 7724 during business hours for advice on using the Worksheet. It's best to involve your whole family, as everybody needs to know what to do in the event of a large flood.

You should also make an emergency kit and make sure everyone in your family knows where it is. Follow this link to the SES website for information on what your emergency kit should contain.

Along with your Family Flood Plan and emergency kit, follow this link to find out more about flood safety and what you should do when you know a flood is approaching.

FloodSafe Guides

The SES, together with local Councils, have information that may be specific to flooding in your area.

FloodSafe Guides for the Blacktown, Hawkesbury, Lower Hawkesbury River and Penrith areas are available from your local SES Unit and Council. Council also have specific information on how flooding may affect your property and/or business.

Flood Risk Management Planning Guides

One of the key findings of the Hawkesbury-Nepean Flood Management Strategy (1998) was that the planning and construction of urban development on the floodplain must be improved to reduce the impact of flooding on people and property. To this end, the Hawkesbury-Nepean Flood Management Advisory Committee commissioned the production of flood-specific planning guidelines. The three guidelines published here are the result of a collaboration between state and local government and also involved research and testing by independent research organisations including several NSW universities (Sydney, Macquarie, Newcastle) and the CSIRO.

Flood emergency management is focussed on protecting people first and then their property. The capability to evacuate people off the floodplain is the key flood emergency management strategy. The guidelines recognise that all new development should be designed and built to ensure that emergency management action can be safely and efficiently implemented when a flood threatens. The guidelines will also assist individuals and businesses to minimise the damage that would otherwise be done to their property when it is flooded. Houses and buildings cannot be moved as a flood approaches but basic modifications, some required at the time of construction, can make the difference between a total flood loss and a recoverable asset.

These guidelines are voluntary and are not part of any mandatory State planning code or regulations in NSW. The guidelines are provided for the advice of individuals and organisations that are genuinely interested in producing better flood emergency risk management outcomes