Councillors will table the Ballarat Central Business District Local Flood Guide at a meeting on Wednesday night.

The report on how to prepare and deal with flooding comes just weeks after the most significant rainfall was recorded in recent years in the Ballarat and surrounding region, including Skipton.   

The State Emergency Service (SES) are the lead agency in undertaking the consultation process and delivering the final document to the community. 

The new guides are being prepared for communities across the state by the SES, mirroring a similar initiative undertaken by the CFA for fire prone communities. 

The flood guide covers residents and business owners located near the Yarrowee River and Gnarr Creek in the Ballarat Central area.

It also includes information for residents on how to understand flood conditions as well as material to assist in planning and preparing for flooding.

The council’s director of community development Neville Ivey said in his report, considerable work was undertaken between the agencies involved to gather information on the effects of the previous flooding events in Ballarat history.

Flooding events which were studied included the 2011 flash flooding in Mair Street which damaged business in the Bridge Mall and severe storms which hit the city’s CBD in the early 1990s.   

He said as part of the process, the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority undertook substantial flood plain studies of the area and have provided mapping on predicted areas of inundation in one in a hundred year flood event.

Mr Ivey said the information was vital in identifying areas where resources may need to be deployed on the advice of a severe weather event.