Ruth’s home was destroyed. What happened next scared her more

Ruth Nielsen has seen more than her fair share of hardship, but the 79-year-old is remarkably no-nonsense.

In November 2022, she was rescued from the roof of her four-wheel drive after a deadly flash flood in her home town of Eugowra in NSW’s Central West. Her home was destroyed.

Ruth Nielsen says having an insurance claim rejected was “more scary” than being up to her neck in water.Credit: Belinda Soole

“When things go wrong, you don’t get into a flap,” the self-described “country woman” said.

“Maybe it comes from my mum’s tough upbringing and my army reserve background. You just do what you’ve got to do at the time.”

But Nielsen said having her insurance claim initially knocked back “was more scary than being up to your neck in water”.

“I didn’t think I had a hope to make any kind of claim.”

Happily, this turned out to be wrong.

The storm before the flood

Nielsen had taken photos and video early one morning at home after a “horrendous storm” swept through the town the previous night. She was standing in water up to her calves.

That wasn’t the end of it. Later that morning, “a wave hit us from across the paddocks and the hills” without warning. It was later described as a one-in-5000-year flood and an “inland tsunami”.

Ruth Nielsen was successful in an insurance claim after an initial refusal.Credit: Belinda Soole

Nielsen had just had surgery in Sydney for breast cancer, and had only returned home to pick up her Christmas presents before returning to the city for treatment.

Her insurance claim was rejected the first time because her policy covered a range of natural disasters, including storm surge, storm run-off and tsunami, but not floods.

“A lot of people were in my situation. They had everything but flood written on their insurance,” she said. “We had never flooded in this particular area where I live.”

The stress of the cancer treatment took its toll. Nielsen was reluctant to challenge the denial until she spoke to Legal Aid NSW experts at Eugowra showgrounds.

Legal Aid is preparing for another wave of requests for assistance following the NSW Mid North Coast and Hunter floods. Insurers had already received more than 6000 claims, the bulk of which relate to damage to homes, the Insurance Council of Australia said.

“Because I had those early morning photos of the water coming into my garage and around the house ... [I was told by Legal Aid], ‘You’ve got a case because this is before the flood actually hit,’ ” Nielsen said.

“This was three hours before the actual wave hit us.”

She said she believed the photos and videos were crucial to the success of her second claim for insurance based on stormwater damage. Nielsen received funds from contents insurance with the assistance of Legal Aid.

Flooding on the Bucketts Way in South Taree last month. Insurers have already received more than 6000 claims from the recent Mid North Coast disaster.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“Unfortunately, we lost two people. That’s a bigger loss,” she said.

Nielsen has been living in a mobile pod home behind her former home since February 2023. The temporary accommodation was organised by the NSW Reconstruction Authority.

“I was very fortunate to have somewhere to come and stay. I take my hat off to the government. They are doing a brilliant job under extreme circumstances,” Nielsen said.

She is awaiting confirmation from government agencies about a replacement home.

Avoiding insurance pitfalls

A senior disaster recovery and insurance solicitor at Legal Aid NSW, Ma’ata Solofoni, said that “what we see following a flood is that ... people often don’t have cover for flood [damage]” because of the high cost of insurance, particularly in high-risk areas.

“We’ve heard from people figures like $10,000, up to $60,000. Those are premiums for one year.”

Importantly, however, “storm cover is a standard inclusion in policies”, and people may still be covered for damage before any floodwater entered their property.

Some insurers bundled an exclusion on stormwater run-off with flood cover, meaning that, if a person had opted out of flood cover, they might also have opted out of those other forms of cover.

“In Ruth’s case, she didn’t have that bundled exclusion,” Solofoni said. “For those who unfortunately have that bundled exclusion, they wouldn’t be covered for any sort of water damage that’s entered the property from [the] ground up.

“What we saw with many of our clients was they weren’t aware that’s what they had opted out of.”

Solofoni said time-stamped photo and video evidence could make “the biggest difference” when a client might be up against an expensive report prepared by a hydrologist for an insurance company. She encouraged people to gather this evidence if it was safe to do so at the time.

That material could also be useful for other forms of assistance, including government grants.

“We know that recovery can take many years. We’ve still been assisting people from the 2019-20 bushfires.”

She said a knockback from an insurer “doesn’t have to be the final decision”, and encouraged people to seek legal help to navigate dispute mechanisms.

Legal Aid NSW 1800 801 529

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