Some age-related effects of the 1974 Brisbane floods are examined. The impact of the floods on health increased in those over 35 years of age probably because they were more likely to be householders. Women under 65 years of age had more psychiatric symptoms than men, but this sex difference disappeared in those over 65 years, perhaps because the working man is not constantly confronted with the damage to his home in the way that others are. The possibility that people over 75 years living in flood-affected suburbs experienced increased morbidity even though not themselves flooded cannot be excluded.