Northern Beaches flood map check

Northern Beaches Council publishes its own flood mapping, and the Site Checker reads it for any Northern Beaches address. The checker reads its high and medium flood risk precincts, the two precincts the council's Flood Hazard Map draws and its flood controls key off.

Type an address below to see what each map says about the block, with its source and date.

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Is my Northern Beaches property flood affected?

A Northern Beaches property is flood affected for planning when any part of it is in one of Northern Beaches Council's flood risk precincts: high, medium or low. 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 Northern Beaches Council's, and the questions below explain how to get it.

Where is the Northern Beaches Council flood map?

Northern Beaches Council's Flood Hazard Map is on its flooding page, and the studies behind it, from Narrabeen Lagoon and Frenchs Creek to McCarrs Creek, Mona Vale and Bayview, are on its flood study reports page.

Which Northern Beaches Council flood layers does the Site Checker read?

The council's flood service carries six layers, and the checker reads the two that are controls: the high flood risk area and the medium flood risk area. Neither names a study or a date, and their classes are words rather than H numbers.

The checker asks 2 layers: High Flood Risk Area and Medium Flood Risk Area. Every one answered a test query on 17 September 2026. Two layers recording proposed zoning review changes are left out, and so are the Manly and Newport low flood islands, whose land the council says is already inside the two precincts.

What do the flood risk precincts mean on the Northern Beaches?

They sort flood prone land by how much risk flooding carries, high, medium or low, and the council's flood controls depend on the precinct. The low flood risk precinct is flood prone land inside the probable maximum flood but outside the medium precinct, and no public layer maps it, so a block in the low precinct reads as outside both mapped precincts.

How do I get a flood certificate from Northern Beaches Council?

Apply for a Flood Information Report on Northern Beaches Council's online form. The council describes it as the way to request flood information, such as flood levels and maps, for a development application or for general information, and lists it on its forms page.

Why does the Northern Beaches Council 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 Northern Beaches Council'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, Northern Beaches Council settles it.

What else do people ask?

Does the Northern Beaches 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 Northern Beaches Council, through a Flood Information Report.

If my Northern Beaches block is outside the mapped area, can it still flood?

Yes. The low flood risk precinct on the Northern Beaches has no public layer at all, so a block the checker finds outside both mapped precincts can still be flood prone land. 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. Northern Beaches Council'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 Northern Beaches Council 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.