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Bundaberg Region

Flood-Aware Landscaping Bundaberg

Ask the overlay and water-movement questions before reshaping a site.

What the job involves

A landscape can change how rain is stored and conveyed. Filling a low area, building a retaining edge or concentrating runoff may solve one symptom while worsening another location.

Bundaberg properties can be affected by Burnett River flooding, short bursts of local flash flooding and, near the coast, storm tide. Before you fill, retain, pave or re-drain a yard, check what Council's mapping says about your lot and watch how water moves across it in heavy rain. This guide explains where to find that information and which rules most often come up in landscaping in Bundaberg.

Not professional advice. This guide is general information, not engineering, legal or planning advice. Rules change and every lot is different, so confirm what applies to your property with Bundaberg Regional Council's duty planner (1300 883 699, development@bundaberg.qld.gov.au), a building certifier or another qualified professional.

Decisions that shape the scope

Check the overlay

Use the current Bundaberg planning scheme and property mapping.

Map flow paths

Identify where water enters, ponds and leaves during meaningful rain.

Limit assumptions

A visual assessment may not replace survey, hydraulic or engineering advice.

Stage carefully

Keep temporary earthworks and stockpiles from obstructing drainage.

Local planning point

What to check in this market

The current planning scheme seeks outcomes that do not worsen off-site flood risk. This guide cannot determine approval or design requirements for a property.

How to check the Bundaberg flood map for your property

Council publishes several free tools. Each answers a different question, so use them together.

Generate a Flood Planning Control Property Report. Search your address in Council's interactive mapping. The free report gives flood levels for the events that make up Council's Flood Hazard Area, existing floor heights where Council holds them, and the minimum habitable floor level. Council warns it is mainly for development assessment and "does not show the full range of flooding that may occur".
Step through the Flood Gauge Mapping System. On Council's Burnett River flood information page, open the system, choose "Select a Flood Gauge", then "Bundaberg (Targo Street)", and pick a gauge height. Selecting 9.5 shows the January 2013 flood level; stepping up and down shows how smaller or larger river floods could reach your street.
Check the 2026 flood hazard area maps. Council adopted Flood Hazard Area Resolution 1/2025 on 25 November 2025, with effect from 2 January 2026, and published the Flood Hazard Area Maps (PDF). Where modelled data exists, Council has declared defined flood levels (DFLs); elsewhere it uses the State's interim floodplain mapping. Council said its interactive mapping would be updated to match, so if the PDF and online layer differ for your lot, ask which applies.
On the coast, check the storm tide guides. Council's community evacuation guides cover storm tide-prone coastal communities and communities downstream of Paradise Dam: Bargara, Bundaberg North, Burnett Heads, Coonarr, Coral Cove, Elliott Heads, Innes Park, Moore Park Beach, Paradise Dam and Woodgate. Storm tide and tsunami mapping is linked from the Bundaberg Disaster Dashboard, where you can also opt in to alerts.
Optional state cross-check: FloodCheck Queensland. FloodCheck Queensland shows where state flood studies and historic flood information exist. It says it should not be used to judge property-level flood risk and refers people to their council.
Still unsure? Ask Council. The duty planner is on 1300 883 699 or development@bundaberg.qld.gov.au.

For context, the Burnett River peaked at 9.53 metres at the Bundaberg City gauge on 29 January 2013, the city's largest recorded flood. Council reports depths of up to 3 m in parts of North Bundaberg, backwater flooding in East Bundaberg near Saltwater and Bundaberg Creeks, and more than 4,000 homes inundated. Flash flooding from short, intense storms is also common, though Council notes overland flooding generally subsides within hours.

Mapping is still being refined. Final maps of the 2010, 2013 and 2022 floods from the Burnett River and Tributaries Catchment Flood Study are on the flood study website, with the study due for completion in October 2026; Council says the significant March 2026 flood was used to check the models. Ask Council whether new mapping has been adopted before relying on an older map.

What a flood hazard overlay means for filling and earthworks

The Bundaberg Regional Council Planning Scheme 2015 (version 6.7, in effect from 28 August 2026) defines filling or excavation as removing or importing material to, from or within a lot in a way that changes the ground level. Garden mounds, imported topsoil, raised pads and levelled lawns can all count.

Where no overlay applies, the Part 5 tables of assessment (PDF) treat excavating or filling on a typical residential lot as accepted development only if it involves no more than 50 m³ of material, filling of no more than 10 m³ at an average depth of 150 mm or less, excavation no deeper than 1 m, and filling that does not cause runoff to pond on adjacent land. Beyond those limits it needs code assessment.
Inside a mapped flood hazard area or storm tide inundation area, excavating or filling that would otherwise be accepted becomes code assessable against the Flood hazard overlay code.
The code's aims include protecting floodplains and the flood-carrying capacity of watercourses, and avoiding any material increase in flood or storm tide inundation (Part 8 overlays, PDF).
For assessable development, the code's acceptable outcomes include no loss of flood storage within the flood hazard area, no increase in flood hazard (depth, duration, velocity or warning time) for other properties, and no earthworks, including filling, on land below the defined flood level. The narrow exception is watercourse rehabilitation backed by a qualified consultant's assessment.
For a dwelling house, the code's acceptable outcome is that building work does not involve filling within a mapped flood hazard area.

In practice, if your lot is flood mapped, ask Council before importing soil or changing levels, even for a garden bed; raising a yard with fill is not a simple fix there. This is a summary of the planning scheme, not advice about your lot. Council or a qualified planner can confirm what applies.

Retaining walls: the Queensland 1 m rule and its limits

Under Schedule 1, section 3 of the Building Regulation 2021, building work for a retaining wall is accepted development, meaning no building development approval is needed, only if all of these apply:

there is no surcharge loading over the wall's zone of influence, the soil behind the wall that affects its stability. Loads only from people or vehicles on the soil, or from rain, do not count; a structure near the top of the wall may;
the total height of the wall and the fill or cut it retains is no more than 1 m, measured from finished ground level;
the wall is no closer than 1.5 m to a building or another retaining wall; and
the wall is not part of the fencing for a regulated pool.

Accepted work must still meet the relevant building standards, and other rules still apply: the planning scheme's filling limits and flood overlay above, and Council's position that structures are generally not permitted within drainage easements. A fence is accepted development if it is no higher than 2 m above its natural ground surface and is not for a regulated pool. If a fence will sit on a wall, ask a building certifier how the heights are assessed.

Retaining walls are not fences. The Queensland Government explains that retaining walls are not classed as fences under the Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Act 2011 and are normally not a joint responsibility, because a wall usually benefits one neighbour more than the other. QCAT can still order retaining wall work where repairing a dividing fence requires it. For a specific dispute, get legal advice.

Planning a wall as part of a larger project? See landscape design and construction.

Drainage and overland flow: what Council expects of owners

Council's stormwater drainage page and fact sheet SW.02 (PDF) set out what owners are responsible for. In Council's words:

"Property owners are required to accept natural overland flow from adjoining properties or public land."
"An upstream property owner cannot be held liable merely because overland surface water flows naturally from his/her land on to the lower land of a neighbour. However the upstream property owner may be liable if actions they undertake result in increased or more concentrated flows than would normally be naturally occurring."
When building hard surfaces, landscaping, other impervious surfaces or drains, owners "must control the stormwater to prevent increased or concentrated flows onto an adjacent property or downstream property".
Roof water generally needs to reach a lawful point of discharge: the kerb and channel, an inter-allotment stormwater drainage pipe system, or a Council-controlled drainage easement or drainage reserve, which requires Council approval.
"Fences and landscaping can change the topography of a property and the way it disperses water."

Council treats overland flow problems between private properties as a civil matter and says its powers to intervene are limited. It points neighbours to free mediation through the Wide Bay Dispute Resolution Centre. Owners are also responsible for preventing soil erosion on their property from affecting neighbours, drains and roads (fact sheet SW.06, PDF). To scope a fix for water problems, see landscape drainage and earthworks.

Flood-aware design choices for Bundaberg yards

These are options to discuss, not engineering solutions. Whether any suits a lot depends on its levels, soil, mapping and where water can lawfully go.

Swales and vegetated channels

Council's fact sheet SW.01 (PDF) notes vegetated channels can carry runoff and help remove pollutants, and that in flatter parts of the region concrete pits and pipes are not always the right answer. A swale must still not concentrate flow onto a neighbour.

Hard and permeable surfaces

Rain that cannot soak in becomes runoff, and Council expects new hard surfaces to be managed so they do not increase or concentrate flow next door. Ask whether a permeable surface suits your soil and use, and how its drainage works. See paving and hard surfaces.

Raised beds and garden mounds

Raised beds can lift roots above short-term ponding, but on a flood-mapped lot imported soil can count as filling. Keep overland flow paths open: SW.01 notes they can be blocked or redirected by fences, buildings or debris, increasing the extent of flooding.

Sheds, stored materials and chemicals

Council's fact sheet SW.04 (PDF) advises keeping sheds and other structures out of low-lying areas and natural depressions, raising chemicals and electrical equipment above ground level in sheds, clearing rubbish and loose vegetation from flow paths and, where possible, not letting water pond for more than five days, to discourage mosquitoes.

Choosing plants for wet or coastal spots

No plant is flood proof, and this guide does not recommend species. Take these criteria to a local nursery or to Bundaberg and District Landcare Association, which supplies natives for Council's plant swap program:

Areas that pond briefly after storms: ask about tolerance of short-term waterlogging.
Low spots that stay wet for days: ask about prolonged wet roots, or leave these areas for water to move through.
Coastal exposure: ask about salt spray and wind tolerance.
Sandy, free-draining soil or heavy soil: ask how each plant copes with both dry spells and wet seasons.
Mature height near powerlines: see the clearances below.

Before clearing, check Council's native plants guidance: a permit may be needed to clear protected plants or remnant vegetation, and all marine plants, such as mangroves and salt couch, are protected under Queensland's Fisheries Act 1994. For planting and lawn scope, see gardens and turf.

Cyclone and storm season: preparing the garden

Council says Bundaberg's cyclone season officially runs from November to April, and that severe thunderstorms generally occur from January to March but are also likely in April, November and December (Hazards: know your risks). Garden items from Council's prepare your home checklist:

Clean gutters and downpipes so water can drain away quickly.
Trim trees and overhanging branches.
Secure loose items such as garden furniture and toys.
Keep plastic bags or sandbags on hand for emergency stormwater diversion. Sand can be arranged through the SES on 132 500.

Trees and powerlines need extra care. Ergon Energy says never to trim trees near powerlines yourself; call a professional tree trimmer. When planting, keep plants at least 3 m from power poles, plant a tree as far from a pole as its mature height (a 5 m tree goes 5 m away), and allow at least a 2 m gap between the service wire to your home and the mature height of trees.

After a flood: garden recovery steps

Stay out of floodwater. Council's message is "If it's flooded, forget it." Wait until authorities say it is safe.
Treat floodwater, silt and debris as contaminated. The Queensland Government notes that floodwater is often contaminated by sewage and by agricultural or industrial wastes and chemicals. Wear gloves and sturdy footwear for clean-up and read the state's flood health and safety advice.
Be cautious with edible plants. Business Queensland's crop recovery guidance is to discard vegetables flooded with water that may have been contaminated, particularly leafy vegetables, and not to use produce from plants that have yellowed.
Judge plant damage by how long water sat. Business Queensland says that if water drains within 24 hours, the impact on plant health is usually minimal, while some tree deaths can be expected if floodwater remains for 3 or more days, especially on less well-drained soils. Remove dying or dead branches, which can let in disease and pests, and replace nutrients gradually, as heavy fertiliser can damage recovering roots.
Record what happened. Note where water pooled and for how long, and photograph silt lines and flow paths. Bring that record to a landscaper or to Council.

Questions to ask a landscaper about flood-affected work

Have you looked at the Flood Planning Control Property Report and flood hazard mapping for this lot?
Does the plan import fill or change levels? Roughly how many cubic metres, and how deep?
Will any retaining wall exceed 1 m total height, sit within 1.5 m of a building or another wall, or have a shed, slab or other structure above it?
Where will roof water and surface water go, and is that a lawful point of discharge?
Could the work increase or concentrate flow onto a neighbour?
Who arranges any approvals and any certifier or engineer input, and is that written into the quote?
How will stockpiles and exposed soil be managed if heavy rain arrives mid-job?
Who looks after new plants through their first wet season?

The landscaping cost guide explains how to break a job into measurable work packages so these answers end up in writing. Bundaberg Landscaping Co is a referral service: a responding provider confirms its own credentials, scope, approvals and price.

Bundaberg flood-aware yard checklist

Print this checklist and work through it before you request quotes. Details were checked in October 2026; confirm anything that matters with Council.

1. Know your flood data

Tool	What it shows	Where to find it
Flood Planning Control Property Report	Flood levels for the events in Council's Flood Hazard Area, recorded floor heights where held, minimum habitable floor level. Not the full range of possible flooding.	Council interactive mapping
Flood Gauge Mapping System	Simulated river flood extents by Bundaberg (Targo Street) gauge height. Height 9.5 shows the January 2013 level.	Burnett River flood information
Flood Hazard Area Maps (Resolution 1/2025)	Areas designated as flood hazard areas, effective 2 January 2026.	Council flood information
2013 peak flood map	Extent of the January 2013 flood.	2013 flood map (PDF)
Community evacuation guides	Evacuation routes for storm tide-prone coastal communities and communities downstream of Paradise Dam.	Flood mapping, evacuation maps and guides
Disaster Dashboard	Current flooding and road conditions, alert opt-in, storm tide and tsunami mapping links.	Bundaberg Disaster Dashboard
Burnett River and Tributaries Catchment Flood Study	Final maps of the 2010, 2013 and 2022 floods. Study due for completion October 2026.	Flood study website
FloodCheck Queensland	Where state flood studies and historic flood information exist. Not for property-level flood risk.	FloodCheck Queensland

2. Approval triggers at a glance

Work	Simpler when	Ask Council or a certifier first when	Source
Excavating or filling, no overlay	50 m³ or less in total; fill 10 m³ or less at an average depth of 150 mm or less; cuts no deeper than 1 m; no ponding on adjacent land	Any limit is exceeded	Planning scheme Part 5
Excavating or filling in a mapped flood hazard or storm tide inundation area	No simple threshold: it becomes code assessable	Always, before importing or removing soil	Planning scheme Parts 5 and 8
Retaining wall	Wall plus retained fill or cut 1 m or less; at least 1.5 m from buildings and other retaining walls; no surcharge loading; not part of pool fencing	Higher, closer, loaded, or part of pool fencing	Building Regulation 2021, Sch 1 s3
Fence	2 m or less above natural ground; not for a regulated pool	The fence sits on a retaining wall, or is for a pool	Building Regulation 2021, Sch 1 s1
Roof water	Drains to the kerb and channel or an inter-allotment drainage system	Connecting to a Council drainage easement or reserve (needs Council approval), or any other discharge point	Council fact sheet SW.02
Clearing trees or shrubs	Not protected plants, remnant vegetation or marine plants, and clear of powerlines	Protected plants, remnant vegetation, marine plants, or anything near powerlines	Council native plants; Ergon Energy

3. Before, during and after storm season

Before November: clean gutters and downpipes.
Before November: trim trees and overhanging branches, using a professional for anything near powerlines.
Before November: clear overland flow paths and easements of rubbish, loose vegetation and stockpiles.
Before November: raise chemicals and electrical equipment in sheds, and plan where loose garden items will go.
Before November: opt in to Disaster Dashboard alerts and know your evacuation route if you are on the coast.
When warnings are issued: secure or bring in garden furniture and toys, and follow official instructions.
After an event: stay out of floodwater until authorities say it is safe.
After an event: photograph water levels, silt lines and flow paths, and note how long water ponded.
After an event: where possible, stop water ponding for more than five days, and stay away from fallen trees and damaged powerlines.

Useful details for a quote request

Property overlay result
Flood and drainage history
Proposed cut and fill
Retaining interfaces
Professional or council advice

Compare like with like

Ask each responding provider to put the proposed scope, assumptions, exclusions and responsibilities in writing. A lower figure is not a saving if it omits preparation, access, disposal, approvals or completion work that another quote includes.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if my Bundaberg property is in a flood zone?

Generate a free Flood Planning Control Property Report from Council's interactive mapping, then check the Flood Hazard Area Maps adopted under Resolution 1/2025 (effective 2 January 2026) and the Flood Gauge Mapping System. Coastal properties should also check Council's storm tide evacuation guides. Council's duty planner can help on 1300 883 699.

Do I need approval to fill or level my yard in Bundaberg?

It depends on volume, depth and mapping. Where no overlay applies, the planning scheme accepts small jobs, such as no more than 50 m³ of material in total and filling of no more than 10 m³ at an average depth of 150 mm or less, while larger work needs assessment. Inside a mapped flood hazard area, excavating or filling becomes assessable against the Flood hazard overlay code. Check with Council before importing soil on a flood-mapped lot.

How high can a retaining wall be without approval in Queensland?

Under the Building Regulation 2021, a retaining wall is accepted development if the wall plus the fill or cut it holds is no more than 1 m high, it is at least 1.5 m from a building or another retaining wall, there is no surcharge loading, and it is not part of pool fencing. Planning scheme, flood overlay and easement rules can still apply.

Who is responsible for a retaining wall between neighbours in Queensland?

The Queensland Government says retaining walls are not classed as fences under the Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Act 2011 and are normally not a joint responsibility, as they usually benefit one neighbour more than the other. Get legal advice for a specific dispute.

Can I direct stormwater onto my neighbour's property in Bundaberg?

Owners must accept natural overland flow, but Council says you may be liable if changes on your property increase or concentrate flow onto a neighbour. Roof water generally needs to go to a lawful point of discharge, such as the kerb and channel, an inter-allotment drainage system, or a Council drainage easement or reserve with Council approval.

What should I do with my garden after a flood?

Stay out of floodwater, treat silt and debris as contaminated, and discard vegetables that may have been touched by contaminated floodwater, particularly leafy greens. Plants usually cope if water drains within 24 hours, but some trees may die if water remains for 3 or more days. Record where water pooled and for how long before planning repairs.

Sources

Official sources used for this guide, checked in October 2026. Rules and mapping change, so confirm current details with the source or with Council.

One clear enquiry

Request a landscaping quote

Describe the property and scope once. Your details can then be referred to a relevant provider servicing Bundaberg Region.