Burnett River flood information

Flood History

Townships located on the lower Burnett River floodplain have been subjected to a number of moderate to large flood events that have adversely affected local residents, businesses, land owners and infrastructure.

The most recent of these flood events occurred in January 1942, February 1971, December 2010, January 2011, and most significantly in January 2013 when record rainfalls and flooding occurred across the region.

During the January 2013 event, flood depths of up to 3 m and high flow velocities (up to 5m/s) were experienced in parts of North Bundaberg. Significant levels of flooding also occurred in East Bundaberg due to backwater inundation across the floodplain in areas adjacent to Saltwater and Bundaberg Creeks.

You can view a map of the 2013 flood here(PDF, 21MB), simulate a range of flood events in the Flood Gauge Mapping System, or learn more about the work Council and the Queensland Government are doing to manage risk.

During the event, a large number of people were evacuated including approximately 5000 residents from North Bundaberg. In addition, the January 2013 flood resulted in a significant amount of flood damage including inundation of over 4000 homes, significant scour and scour-induced building damage, and widespread impacts to both public infrastructure (including bridges, roads, sewerage and water lines) and agricultural activities (sugar cane cropping, livestock, small crops and fishing).

Flood Gauge Mapping System

Targeted property flood information at your fingertips!

This is an important flood education tool and allows you to understand what the flood gauges mean to your property. The Bureau of Meteorology operate the Burnett River Flood Warning System.

It is important that everyone is prepared for future floods so take the time to browse these interactive maps and understand how floods might impact you. You can print an entire booklet of maps relating to your area of interest and animate the rise and fall of the river over some 270 square kilometres of the floodplain!

Historical Flood Maps

You can access the 2013 flood map here(PDF, 21MB).

Or simulate the extent of historical floods by using the Flood Gauge Mapping System and following the below steps:

  1. Open Flood Gauge Mapping System (button below)
  2. Choose ‘Select a Flood Gauge’ and next
  3. Choose ‘Bundaberg (Targo Street)’ and next
  4. From the drop down menu, select the closest increment based on the table below (for example, to see the January 2013 flood level select 9.5) and select.

Once in the mapping system you can toggle different flood levels to understand your risk and simulate how smaller or bigger floods may impact on you.

You can also see the extent of the 2013 flood by viewing the high resolution imagery. After following the above steps, select the 'Basemaps' icon in the bottom left corner of the map then select the 'BRC Flood' option.

Flood event website table

Source: Flood Warning System for the Burnett River (BoM 2021)

Flood Gauge Mapping System

Flood level relationships - Paradise Dam to Bundaberg

General relationships of Paradise Dam and Walla Gauge flood levels to Bundaberg Gauge(PDF, 212KB)

Estimated Flood Travel time map (relative to Paradise Dam)(PDF, 3MB)