NSW floods: Some homes may become uninsurable
The cost of the Northern NSW and Queensland floods is set to rival the Black Summer bushfires - and there could be an additional sting in the tail for homeowners.
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Parts of the flood-prone Northern Rivers could be rendered virtually uninsurable after the latest disaster.
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has conceded everyone’s future premiums will be impacted by the inundation of property in northern NSW and South East Queensland.
As of Tuesday, March 8, 96,844 claims have been lodged - 29,865 or around 31 per cent of these from NSW.
Across both states, 80 per cent of claims are for domestic property, 17 per cent for motor vehicle, with the remainder for commercial property.
Claims have been received from 80 local government areas.
And these numbers will rise, as an ICA spokesperson said many are only now able to return to their home or business in the Northern Rivers to discover damage.
There will be an even longer lag for the owners of holiday homes in popular locations like Murwillumbah, Byron Bay and Ballina, the spokesperson said, until any damage by absent owners can be realised.
The Insurance Council has deemed the rain system which has impacted Queensland, northern NSW and now western Sydney, as a single event.
The estimated loss is already put at $1.452 billion.
To put that in perspective, the Black Summer bushfires across the nation came in at $2.319 billion.
“It’s (the floods) a high impact event. The claims will continue to come in for a long time afterwards,” the spokesperson said.
Given the flood history of places like Lismore, insurers may have to determine if some properties can continue to be covered.
“That’s something that will come out as assessors move into the area,” the spokesperson said.
“We’ve certainly had a lot of disasters in the past two years.”
Home and business owners wanting to make a claim should contact their insurer by phone or internet.
Where that is not practical due to lack of service, the spokesperson said people may be able to make contact by visiting their local recovery centre.
The Insurance Council has a representative at the Lismore Recovery Centre, as do a number of individual insurers.
And they can pass on any message to a particular insurer if they do not have a presence at the centre.
“We’re all working as a team,” the spokesperson said.
ICA CEO Andrew Hall will be in Lismore from Tuesday, meeting with local MPs, stakeholders and insurers.
“As we expected we are now seeing an influx of claims from NSW,” Mr Hall said.
“Insurers are prioritising those customers whose situation is the most severe to support them getting back on their feet as soon as possible.
“This means it may take a few weeks for insurers to start the assessment process for less severe claims.”
Meanwhile, reports coming out of Toowoomba that people needed to hang onto damaged soft furnishings until an assessor arrived were incorrect, the spokesperson said.
Anything which presents a health hazard can be removed, “but take photos and videos (to record the damage)”.
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