Tweed Valley Flood Study Update and Expansion

⁠⁠⁠Tweed Shire Council (the Council) has received financial support from the State Floodplain Management program, managed by the Department of Planning, Infrastructure and Environment (DPIE) (formerly the Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH)), to undertake an updated and expanded flood investigation of the Tweed Valley.

The primary objective of the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Flood Prone Land Policy is to reduce the impact of flooding and flood liability on individual owners and occupiers of flood prone property, and to reduce private and public losses resulting from floods, utilising ecologically positive methods wherever possible.

The study will be overseen and guided by the Council and its Floodplain Management Committee, which may include representatives from key stakeholder and end user groups. The study will be guided technically by the Council and a technical committee, which may include representatives from the Council and other organisations (such as NSW Government agencies).

The Council will be the day-to-day contact for the study.
This project involves conducting a flood study, which is a comprehensive technical investigation of flood behaviour that provides the main technical foundation for the development of a robust floodplain risk management plan. It aims to provide an understanding of the full range of flood behaviour and consequences in the study area. It involves consideration of the local flood history, available collected flood data, and the development of hydrologic and hydraulic models. Where
possible, models are calibrated and verified against historic flood events and then extended to estimate the full range of flood behaviour.

The study outputs can also inform decision making for investing in the floodplain; managing flood risk through prevention, preparedness, response and recovery activities. Each of these areas has different user groups, whose needs vary.