SEQ recovery on track 12 months after devastating floods

Of the 8,698 homes and businesses identified as damaged following the catastrophic SEQ floods of 2022, 6,744 properties, nearly 80 per cent, are now damage free once again.

Queensland Reconstruction Authority (QRA) staff have completed their latest damage assessment and reconstruction monitoring operation in response to last year’s flooding event in SEQ.

Between 13 February and 3 March 2023, 3,604 homes and businesses were revisited by QRA officers for a third time since the flooding of last year across Brisbane, Ipswich, Lockyer Valley, Logan, Gold Coast, Scenic Rim, Somerset, Toowoomba, Western Downs, Moreton Bay, Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Gympie, Fraser Coast and North Burnett.

Of the 3,604 assessments, 1,650 properties were marked as no longer being damaged, while of the 1,954 properties still damaged, repair work is underway on 739 of these.

Additional support on the ground was provided by Queensland’s Department of Communities, Queensland Fire and Emergency Services (QFES), the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Disaster Relief Australia, and councils.

This continues the biggest post-disaster damage assessment operation carried out in Queensland in more than a decade.

Many of the properties visited are also registered for the $741 million Resilient Homes Fund, a jointly funded initiative through Commonwealth-state Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA) following the destructive rainfall and flooding events of 2021-2022.

Homes most severely damaged in last year’s flood event and at greatest risk of future flooding have been prioritised through the Resilient Homes Fund Voluntary Home Buy-Back Program.