Property Scores — 03 of 08
Official state flood overlays, terrain drainage analysis, and water proximity, combined into one per-address score. Free for any address in Australia.
Live Example
Three real Melbourne addresses, scored by the production pipeline. Official VIC flood overlays are drawn where they exist, with height-above-drainage from 30 m terrain in the panel.
The Problem
Flood exposure is one of the most expensive things to get wrong, and one of the hardest to check.
Victoria has planning overlays, NSW has council flood studies, SA has PlanSA layers. There is no single national flood map to check.
Planning overlays only exist where councils commissioned studies. A low-lying block beside a creek can sit outside every mapped zone.
Buyers often discover flood exposure at insurance-quote time, after the contract. By then it is a five-figure annual premium problem.
How It Works
Three independent signals are combined, and the response tells you exactly which ones fired.
We query the state planning systems live: Victoria's flood overlays, NSW ePlanning flood layers, PlanSA, Tasmania and the ACT. If an official flood zone covers the address, that dominates the score.
From 30m Copernicus elevation data we measure how high the address sits above the nearest drainage line within 300 metres. Low relief above a drainage path means water has somewhere to go: towards you.
Distance to mapped rivers, creeks and water bodies from continental water geometry, as a final proximity signal where official layers are silent.
The Physics
When rain falls, water collects along the nearest drainage line — how high an address sits above that line largely decides whether the water reaches the block, so that height is what we measure.
of height above the drainage line separates these two scores — measured from 30 m elevation data, not read off an overlay.
Copernicus GLO-30 DEM · drainage within 300 m · illustrative values
Honest by Design
A flood score without its provenance is dangerous. When the score comes from an official planning overlay, we say so. When it comes from terrain physics because no official layer exists, we say that too.
NSW's official flood layer only covers a subset of council areas. Where it is silent, the score falls back to terrain and proximity signals and is flagged accordingly.
| Signal | Source | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Planning flood overlays | State planning systems (live) | VIC, NSW*, SA, TAS, ACT |
| Height above drainage | Copernicus GLO-30 DEM | National (30m) |
| Water proximity | Continental water geometry | National |
Data at Scale
Who It's For
Check flood exposure before the building inspection, not after the insurance quote. Compare shortlisted addresses in seconds.
Flood overlays drive assessment pathways, floor-level requirements and drainage design. Screen sites before you commit to due diligence costs.
Add a defensible flood check to buyer reports, with the official overlay status stated explicitly.
Property Scores
Each score uses open government data with transparent methodology. No black boxes.
Further Reading
Council flood maps, state overlays, insurance quotes as a signal, and what 1-in-100-year actually means — every way to check flood risk before you sign.
Enterprise
Integrate flood risk scores into your platform, reports, or analysis pipeline. Pricing is tailored to your use case.
JSON endpoint for any Australian address. Returns the score, the underlying signals, and honest flags for anything that could not be assessed. Explore the DA Leads API →
Score entire suburbs or postcodes. CSV or Parquet output with all metrics. Suitable for portfolio assessment, market analysis, or academic research.
White-label scores for your platform. Embed flood risk data into property listings, valuation tools, or planning applications with your own branding.
Volume pricing, SLA, and custom fields available. Tell us what you need.
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Free instant check. Pro unlocks the full breakdown of all 8 scores.