Flood levee influences on community preparedness: a paradox?

Flood levees are a commonly used method of flood protection. Previous research has proposed the concept of the ‘levee paradox’ to describe the situation whereby the construction of levees leads to a lowered community awareness of the risks of flooding and increased development in the ‘protected’ area. The consequences of this are the risks of larger losses in less frequent but deeper floods when levees overtop or fail. This paper uses the recent history of flooding and levee construction to investigate the ‘levee paradox’ through a study of flood preparedness and floodplain development in Lismore, NSW.