Damage to residential buildings can be produced by immersion in water, the physical forces exerted by moving water, through contamination by sediment and/or pollutants, or by the subsequent growth of mould or fungus. This report considers a number of data sets, addressing two major questions:

• Can the building elements damaged in moderate floods be identified?
• Does Northern Territory and Queensland flood experience suggest some housing styles are more appropriate than others in flood-prone areas such as the Hawkesbury-Nepean?