Council has recently adopted the Parramatta River Flood Study following an extensive community engagement process over a six-week public exhibition period.
The community consultation had more than 20,000 page views and involved in-person and phone meetings, letterbox drops, newsletters, translating resources into key community languages.
City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Cr Pierre Esber said all councils are required to manage the risk of flooding within their local government area.
“The Parramatta River Flood Study was the largest update to flood modelling in 20 years and took in about 60 per cent of the Parramatta area,” Cr Esber said.
“It’s a significant step forward as it increases the accuracy of information around flooding and helps identify risks and potential impacts.”
The study models where water flows in heavy storms, how deep the water can become and how dangerous the flows might be.
“What this means for our community is that appropriate resources can be allocated to respond and mitigate flood impacts effectively across our City,” Cr Esber said.
“We can share the information from the study with state emergency services and our residents to help our community prepare for flooding.”
Work is now starting at the City of Parramatta to use the new flood mapping to investigate measures to reduce flooding in areas with high flood risk, which will formally be reviewed as part of the forthcoming Floodplain Risk Management Study and Plan.
