Is this property in a flood area on the council maps? · All of New Zealand
Independent tool – guide only. This site is not run by any council. It reads the councils' own public flood maps and explains them in plain English. It is not a LIM report. Always check the official sources before buying or building.
Start with the street number and street name. Pick your address from the list.
Area whose flood maps are shownCouncil boundariesNot covered yet
Move around the map and it loads the flood maps for whichever council area is in the middle of the map. The blue line shows that area's edge – outside it, the map is dimmed because a different council's maps apply there. Coloured areas are flood areas. Move or zoom the map to see more. Tap anywhere on the map to see which flood areas are at that spot. Once you pick an address, its boundary is outlined in black.
What the maps mean
Council flood maps show where water is expected to go in a big flood. In Kāpiti that's a flood with about a 1 in 100 chance each year – roughly a 1 in 4 chance over a 30-year mortgage. Horizons' maps for Horowhenua use an even bigger flood: about a 1 in 200 chance each year.
Bigger floods can happen, and stopbanks can fail. A property outside the mapped areas can still flood, for example from blocked drains.
Whose maps?
Kāpiti Coast – Kāpiti Coast District Council's District Plan flood areas, plus its newer flood maps.
Horowhenua – Horowhenua District Council's District Plan flood areas, plus Horizons Regional Council's flood modelling.
Wairarapa – the Wairarapa Combined District Plan flood areas, plus Greater Wellington's flood maps and an older valley-wide map.
Wellington, Porirua, Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt – each city's District Plan flood areas, plus Greater Wellington and Wellington Water flood maps.
Auckland – Auckland Council's flood plains, flood prone and flood sensitive areas, overland flow paths and coastal flooding.
Palmerston North, Manawatū, Rangitīkei, Whanganui, Tararua and Ruapehu – each council's District Plan flood maps where available online, plus Horizons Regional Council's flood modelling, its records of past floods and its older indicative flood map. Where Horizons hasn't modelled (including much of Whanganui city), the national flood model is also shown.
Christchurch – the council's District Plan flood areas, its flood modelling and its records of past flooding.
Waimakariri and Selwyn – each council's District Plan flood overlays.
Northland (Far North, Whangārei, Kaipara) – Northland Regional Council's river and coastal flood hazard maps.
Waikato – Waikato Regional Council's flood maps everywhere, plus the council's own maps in Hamilton, Waipā, Matamata-Piako, South Waikato and Taupō.
Bay of Plenty – Tauranga, Western Bay of Plenty and Whakatāne councils' flood maps, plus the regional council's record of the July 2004 flood. Rotorua, Kawerau and Ōpōtiki: only the 2004 flood record.
Gisborne – Gisborne District Council's plan flood zones, other known flooding areas and coastal hazards.
Hawke's Bay – Hawke's Bay Regional Council's flood risk areas and its map of the Cyclone Gabrielle flooding, plus Central Hawke's Bay's District Plan flood areas.
Taranaki – New Plymouth's District Plan flood areas and stormwater flooding areas. South Taranaki (Waitōtara only) and Stratford have little online.
Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough – each council's plan flood areas. In Tasman, the council's flood depth models.
West Coast (Buller, Grey, Westland) – Te Tai o Poutini Plan flood and coastal hazard overlays.
Rest of Canterbury – each district's flood assessment or flood risk areas, plus Environment Canterbury's river floodways.
Otago – Otago Regional Council's flood hazard maps, plus the council's own maps in Dunedin, Queenstown Lakes, Clutha and Waitaki.
Southland – Environment Southland's significant floodplains, plus Gore's proposed District Plan flood areas.
Where a council has little flood mapping online (Rotorua, Kawerau, Ōpōtiki, Napier, Hastings, Wairoa, Stratford, South Taranaki, Waimate, Mackenzie, Central Otago, Invercargill and Southland District), Flood Check also shows Earth Sciences New Zealand's national flood model – a nationwide model of river and rain flooding in a 1 in 100 year rainstorm. It's a rough guide only, not a council map.
Different councils map different sizes of flood – most use about a 1 in 100 chance each year, Canterbury about 1 in 200. The result for each property says which maps were used.
Kāpiti's draft flood maps (consulted on in 2025) are not included. See the council's draft flood maps page.
During heavy rain or a flood
This site shows flood maps, not live warnings. For what's happening right now:
Anywhere: get a LIM report from the district council – the formal record for a property you're buying.
Tell me what is wrong with it
No name, no account, no email needed. If a result looked wrong, a flood area is missing, a council map is out of date or a link doesn’t work, that is exactly what I need to know. What you were checking is filled in below so I can check it – clear it if you would rather not send it.
“What were you checking?” is filled in from your last search: the address, the council area and the result. Nothing is sent unless you press Send. Giving an email address is optional and only used to reply to you. I do not add anyone to a mailing list and I do not pass anything on.