Floodgates near where the new Train Staion is where definately closed. I drove a Unimog full of my blokes passed it about 7.00am going out to sandbag telephone exchanges and water was backed up behind it and flooding back as far as Castletown. I think I remember that Ross Creek was having a new brige installed that now connects to the carpark where Dean Park sound shell was. Black River near the mouth was another place that suffered badly but then it was basically a squatters camp anyway with no real town planning.
Mind you, developers do go out of their way to warn potential home buyers about flooding risks by the names they give suburbs but people choose to ignore them or are blind to the fact. i.e. Fairfield Waters (It was a fresh water swamp before they filled it in) Riverview, if you look across the river you will see Riverway Drive is about 2 to 3 meters higher than your exclusive estate footpaths next to the river, (Thats because Riverway drive is a levee in case the dam wall springs a leak, all the water was to flow out towards the University and Lavarack barracks because no one lived there at the time) Bridgewater Estate and River Meadows (Rasmussen) are built slap on top of feeder creeks for the Bohle River etc.
Anandale was built on reclaimed mangrove swamp, Oonoomba is well, just a string of billabongs that connected to Fairfield Waters but it's OK because they built a horse racing track on it. Oliver Court in Vincent is just a filled in creek. Douglas a series of creeks back filled with rubbish (it used to be Townsvilles only dump at one stage) and top soiled over etc. Anytime you see a suburban street that is higher than the surounding land run for the hills. (Mysterton, Rising Sun, hint hint).
There is also a reason people who lived in South Townsville built Queenslanders on stilts and didn't build at ground level but some developers just don't care and saw cheap land and thought what the hell it only floods here occasionally I will get away with it and knocked them down and built ground level duplexes and flats.
It also never fails to amaze me that the worst land is often the dearest. Castle Hill is a prime example, Mt Lousia is another one. Decomposed Granite is not a stable surface to build a house on. But if a boulder comes crashing through your back fence and laundry door flooding your house with mud and rubble during a cyclone you can always get the council to fix it for you can't you Mr Carmichael?
North Shore is another "Prime Real Estate" location. I use to belt around that area on a trail bike many years ago when it was nothing but termite mounds and mangrove swamps next door to an industrial estate that builds trains etc. I guess they filled in the swamps and bulldozed the termite mounds.
So yes there are a lot of flood potential areas in Townsville. You just need to know how to look at them.
http://flood.firetree.net/?ll=-27.8390,138.1640&z=13&m=7 Navigate to Townsville, select a level from teh drop down box and click on the map. Doesn't look too accurate but better than nothing. If you can get a hold of a Military Survey Map of Townsville it would give you a much better detailed map of heights above sea level.
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