North Creek Flood Risk Management Study and Plan

Once the report is adopted by Council the following actions will be taken:

• Data files are updated on Council’s systems to reflect results emanating from the report
• The report is uploaded to the NSW SES Flood Data Portal for free public access
• Council will address. prioristise and implement as required the suite of Flood Risk Management Measures and Actions recommended in the plan.

A Flood Risk Management Study and Plan looks at how Council can best manage the flood risk.

The Flood Risk Management Study seeks to investigate methods by which to manage existing, future and residual flood risk in the study area.

The Flood Risk Management Plan documents the recommended options for the management of flood risk into the future. The options are assessed to determine which ones may be feasible and result in benefits to the community.

North Creek has a catchment area of 5.3 square kilometres and flows into Lake Macquarie at Warners Bay.

The North Creek catchment incorporates residential development (50 per cent), non-residential development (10 per cent, largely schools and commercial/light industrial), open space and forested areas (40 per cent).

The creek has two main tributaries, the western and eastern tributaries. Each of these has a sub-branch, Seaman Avenue on the western tributary, and the King Street and Lakelands branches on the eastern tributary.

North Creek Flood Risk Management Study and Plan area

The NSW Flood Prone Land Policy aims to reduce the impacts of flooding and flood liability on communities, reduce the private and public losses resulting from floods and increase community resilience to floods.

The management of flood liable land is primarily the responsibility of local government. The NSW Government provides guidance to councils on how to achieve this through the Flood Risk Management Manual 2023 (the Manual). The Manual outlines the flood risk management process as follows:

1. Data collection
2. Flood study
3. Flood risk management study
4. Flood risk management plan.

The first and second stages of the flood risk management process, being data collection and a flood study, were completed with the North Creek Flood Study (March 2025).

This draft flood risk management study and plan is now delivering on the third and fourth stages of the flood risk management process.

In Lake Macquarie City, there are 10 major catchments feeding into the lake and Council has adopted flood studies and flood risk management plans for all of the major catchments and most of the minor catchments.

Council is working with specialist consultant WMAwater to undertake the North Creek Flood Study.

Yes, this flood study will build on the work already completed as part of the 2005 North Creek Flood Study and 2010 North Creek Floodplain Risk Management Study.

Flooding of roads and residential areas within the North Creek catchment has occurred on several occasions in living memory, the most notable being June 1949, February 1990, June 2007 and April 2015.

The annual exceedance probability (AEP) is the chance of a specific size flood occurring in any one year, expressed as a percentage. A one per cent AEP flood has a one per cent or 1 in 100 chance of being reached or exceeded in any given year.

Insurers use data from a variety of sources including historical flood measurements, Federal, State and Local government studies, the Insurance Council of Australia’s National Flood Information Database and their own research (i.e. own assessment of risk). In essence, different companies will assess the risk in different ways and Council does not control what flood data insurers choose to use or how they use it. Over the past few years, a number of factors have combined to raise the price of flood cover and insurance more generally. These include:

• the cost of claims generated by the series of major disasters (including storms, flooding and bush fire) since 2010

• Australian insurers paying more for reinsurance (insurance that insurers take out to cover major events) because of these disasters

• changes in understanding where and when floods will occur and how much it costs to fix damage.

The Insurance Council of Australia advised Council that people should shop around if they are dissatisfied with the cost or coverage of their flood insurance. Residents are also advised to look carefully at what they are covered for, rather than just basing their decision on the price. For further information on insurance, residents can visit: About us - Insurance Council of Australia.

At the start of the development of the North Creek Flood Study, landowners in the study area received a letter with information about the project and were invited to share their observations and experiences of flooding. The wider Lake Macquarie community were also given the opportunity to find out about the project and contribute feedback via Council’s Community engagement platform, Shape Lake Mac. A summary of engagement can be viewed online. 

When the draft North Creek Flood Study went on public exhibition, landowners in the study area received a letter inviting them to have their say on the project by making a submission.  A community information drop-in session was held and the wider community were invited to make a submission on Shape Lake Mac.

The North Creek Flood Study was adopted by Council in March 2025. 

At the start of the public exhibition period for the draft North Creek Flood Risk Management Plan and Study, Council will notify all people who responded to previous consultation to provide an update on this stage of the project and invite their feedback.