An insurance crisis grips the flood-ravaged Central West of NSW as state enters 69th day of consecutive flooding

 

The Sydney Morning Herald, A frame grab from aerial drone vision over Eugowra (Postcode 2806) on Tuesday. 15 November 2022. IMAGE: Mat Reid

Mainstream media reports that the entire postcode of 2871 is to be denied future flood cover by insurance industry. Included in this postcode are:

Bandon, Bedgerebong, Bundaburrah, Calarie, Carrawabbity, Corinella, Cumbijowa, Daroobalgie, Fairholme, Forbes, Garema, Grawlin, Gunning Gap, Jemalong, Mulyandry, Ooma, Warroo, Weelong, Wirrinya and Yarragong. 

The Sydney Morning Herald, Morning Edition,17 November 2022:

Insurers drop flood-stricken residents

As floods continue to devastate the state’s central west, exhausted residents have begun receiving letters from their insurers telling them they are no longer covered. Touring the affected areas, acting Prime Minister Richard Marles said the government would continue to talk to its state counterpart about potential land buybacks. But the insurance crisis prompted calls for the federal government to intervene with a reinsurance pool like it did in Queensland, where premiums skyrocketed due to cyclones.

“There’s got to be a suite of measures on the table, from the financial to the physical, like flood mitigation,” said local federal MP Andrew Gee. In 2019, the state government committed to raising the wall of Wyangala Dam, which has been spilling hundreds of thousands of megalitres of water a day as communities downstream are inundated. However, laws allowing the government to fast-track that project expired last year before work commenced, and Opposition Leader Chris Minns will not commit to it if elected next year. He says the multibillion-dollar project is being used by the government to peddle “false hope” for flood-ravaged communities…..

Photo: Alex Ellinghausen, see more here.

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