Newcastle flood map check
City of Newcastle publishes its own flood mapping, and the Site Checker reads it for any Newcastle address. The checker reads its 1% AEP hazard mapping for city wide flash flooding, the Throsby, Styx and Cottage Creek catchments, the ocean and the river, and its probable maximum flood extent.
Type an address below to see what each map says about the block, with its source and date.
NSW addresses only. Free, and no sign up.
Is my Newcastle property flood affected?
A Newcastle property is flood affected when any part of it is inside the City of Newcastle's mapped 1% AEP hazard or probable maximum flood extents. The council publishes no separate flood planning area layer, so its certificate gives the planning answer. The Site Checker above reads the council's layers, the NSW Planning Portal map and the NSW SES extents, and shows each answer separately. The official answer is still City of Newcastle's, and the questions below explain how to get it.
Where is the City of Newcastle flood map?
The City of Newcastle's flood information viewer is linked from its flooding page, which names the catchments its studies cover: Throsby, Styx and Cottage Creek, Ironbark Creek, Dark Creek, the Lower Hunter River, Newcastle Harbour and the Wallsend commercial area.
Which City of Newcastle flood layers does the Site Checker read?
The council publishes four 1% AEP hazard layers, banded H1 to H6, and a combined probable maximum flood extent whose parts are named for the Dark Creek, Throsby Styx and Cottage Creek and Wallsend catchments, the ocean and the river. It stores each band as a number from 1 to 6, which the checker prints as its H code, and a lot touching several bands reports the worst.
The checker asks 5 layers: 1% AEP hazard, city wide flash flooding; 1% AEP hazard, Throsby Styx and Cottage Creek flash flooding; 1% AEP hazard, ocean; 1% AEP hazard, river; and Probable maximum flood extent. Every one answered a test query on 17 September 2026. No flood planning area layer exists on the council's services, so the checker claims none for a Newcastle lot.
What do the hazard bands H1 to H6 mean in Newcastle?
They grade how dangerous floodwater would be in a 1% AEP flood, from H1, generally safe for people, vehicles and buildings, to H6, unsafe for all of them. The bands combine the depth and the speed of the water, so they say more than an extent does. 1% AEP means a flood with a 1 in 100 chance of being reached or exceeded in any year.
How do I get a flood certificate from City of Newcastle?
Apply for a Flood Information Certificate online through the City of Newcastle's customer portal, with an account, and the certificate is emailed to you. The council says these certificates summarise the flood risk for an individual property from its own data and mapping. Start at its flood certificates page.
Why does the City of Newcastle map differ from the state map?
They are drawn by different bodies for different jobs. The NSW SES Flood Database compiles flood extents from studies across the state, while City of Newcastle's map is the one its planning controls are written against, and a flood planning area usually sits above the 1% AEP extent because it adds freeboard. A withdrawn LEP flood map on the Planning Portal shows as a former map with its date, never as a current control. The checker never merges the sources into one verdict, and where they disagree, City of Newcastle settles it.
What else do people ask?
Does the Newcastle flood map show how deep the water would get?
No. An extent says whether land is inside a modelled flood, not how deep or fast the water is. Flood levels in metres AHD (height above average sea level) come from City of Newcastle, through a Flood Information Certificate.
If my Newcastle block is outside the mapped area, can it still flood?
Yes. Newcastle's hazard layers cover the catchments its studies modelled, and two of them, city wide flash flooding and Throsby, Styx and Cottage Creek, cover only parts of the city. Land outside every map can still flood from overland flow no study has modelled, and a council can apply flood controls to land its published map does not show.
Is this the same as a section 10.7 planning certificate?
No. City of Newcastle's section 10.7 planning certificate is the formal statement of the controls on a lot, including whether flood related development controls apply. Order one through City of Newcastle planning certificates.
Where does this information come from?
This page and the Site Checker are general information from published maps, not a flood certificate, a section 10.7 planning certificate or a survey. They do not replace advice from the council, your certifier, an engineer, a lawyer or your own designer. Check any decision to buy or build against the council's own documents.