Of particular concern to Huntly resident Lindsay Sargeant is what he says is an over-reliance on technical data in the North Central Catchment Management Authority’s assessments, which informed the study.

The 68-year-old, who has lived at the same property all his life, says the NCCMA has overestimated potential flooding in some areas of properties in his street and underestimated it in others.

“I have lived here in the same place for all my 68 years, and my neighbour is 82 and he’s lived there all his life, he knows where water goes in a huge flood and their figures are wrong,” he said.

“The big issue is that people’s valuations will be drastically affected by data that I don’t believe is correct. I know one person whose insurance premium went up $7000.”

Similarly, in Strathfieldsaye, Craig Beaumont’s mother Joyce has also lived at her property for 82 years and has never experienced flooding.

Mr Beaumont said his mother was concerned about the potential impact on future subdivision of her property, after urban sprawl had put pressure on the once thriving farm.

“The rates are skyrocketing because it’s only suitable for subdivision, but if there’s a flood overlay on it it’s going to impact on the ability of an investor to take it on as a subdivision project,” he said.

Councillors will decide whether to accept the city’s recommendation to refer the 42 outstanding objections to an independent panel at tonight’s council meeting.

Like the Beaumont’s, Mr Sargeant hopes the recommendation will be followed so further dialogue can commence.

“I just hope that the council has got enough sense to send it to an independent panel where the affected people can go and give verbal comments to explain their position and to expand on their thoughts,” he said.

NCCMA floodplain manager Camille White said the study had mapped a range of different possibilities, including five, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 year “average recurrence Interval” flood events.

“For example, a one in 100 year ARI flood is a level of flooding that has a 1 per cent chance of occurring in any year,” she said.

“In Victoria, the 100 year ARI flood is used as the minimum design standard flood for town planning.”

Ms White said though residents may not have seen flooding in their area for many decades, that did not mean floods would not occur.

“The 100-year ARI flood is considered a very large and rare flood and may not have occurred in living memory in some locations,” she said.

“For comparison, the study found that the February 2011 flood on Bendigo Creek was approximately a 50 year ARI flood.”