Rosalie, Paddington and Inala will be the first areas to benefit from the $12 million Flood Resilient Homes program as part of the Council’s flood resilience initiatives. The program aims to lessen the impact of flooding and assist residents affected by the flood to recover more quickly.
According to Lord Mayor Graham Quirk, the multi-million-dollar Flood Resilient Homes program, which will be delivered over four years, is a key feature of the 2018-2019 Budget. It is also part of a commitment to ensuring that the city has the services and infrastructure to meet the needs of future generations.
The new program involves a two-part scheme. First, households will receive a free in-home flood-risk assessment to determine how the property’s flood immunity could be boosted.
Eligible homeowners will then get access to flood-resilient property upgrades which includes retrofitting flood-resilient flooring and walls, relocation of electrics and services, and raising the level of timber homes.
“Property owners will be able to take advantage of up to $50,000 of flood-resilience retrofitting upgrades from Council, to help prepare for, and more-easily recover from, flash flooding,” Cr Quirk said.
This year, the Flood Resilient Homes program is offered to residential properties that are at risk of being flooded one in every two years due to flash flooding in the two pilot precincts.
“The owners of more than 220 houses in Rosalie and Inala North will be the first to benefit from the Flood Resilient Homes program, which has been developed in consultation with industry groups including the Insurance Council of Australia, Suncorp, Master Builders and Master Electricians,” said Cr Quirk.
The Council’s Annual Plan and Budget 2018-2019 includes an allocation of $105.3 million on flood resilience under the $630.3 million budget to keep Brisbane clean, green and sustainable.
Furthermore, Cr Quirk said that the Council’s drainage construction program and Voluntary Home Purchase Scheme would still help in increasing city-wide flood immunity, but the Flood Resilient Homes program will target properties where drainage would not eliminate flash flooding.
“Council will invest $31 million into new major and minor drainage construction this year, to provide additional drainage capacity where it will effectively reduce flooding and $66 million to maintain the current network,” he said.
The program will certainly be helpful to residents of the two suburbs as both Inala and Rosalie were amongst the communities that experienced extreme flooding in 2011.
Over the next months, eligible residents in Rosalie (Paddington) and Inala will be contacted by the council’s CitySmart to register for the program.
