Brisbane Floods

Hold tight Willair.

Hubby's parents went under in the 1974 floods with no flood insurance. Up to the tops of the windows. Sold out in 1981 to retire to the Coast after prices had recovered due to Wivenhoe Dam....

In the end the Government paid for repairs to the house to make it liveable - replaced internal walls and basic fittings. Nothing flash, but then again this was 1974 when housing was far less luxurious than expected today.

A panel of hydrologists is being appointed to rule on the exact nature of flooding in different areas to enable uniformity between insurance companies as to how they define the flooding. This is partly due to the few hydrologists available, and will ensure that different companies won't get differing opinions.

And another $20 MIL hit the flood appeal fund in the last 24 hours, much credit being given to Oprah publicising the fund on the US televising of the first of 4 programs recorded in Australia.
Marg
Marg,i'm very very lucky,in one street we have a house in next door is a demo job,the other side was talking to the people this morning while helping them take the hws system out and close the lines for them,they owe more then the property is worth now and looking at a basic 80-100k refit they said they may have to hand the keys in and walk away both have also lost their jobs as they were working in the local factories,behind me the old man now living in his shed,next too him the developer just spent 100k on a total refit and he needed to sell that one too cover his costs to build on the other three blocks and he is overseas:rolleyes:,but the amount of good people that have come and helped has blown me away,yesterday afternoon about 6 just packing my ute up with my tools up pulls all these hire cars out jumps all these Asian ladies all dress the same,they are Buddish people that have flown in from Hong Kong to offere help to anyone too rebuild,i have only just finished the cleanout everything inside is bare,i reckon it looks good just needs paint new bathroom hws everything,i just can't post any phots yet as i still in there with insurance will know withing 48 hours,either way it does not matter a Priest
will come and bless the place the monks will come and do they same and i will just start again no big deal..
 
total media beat up brisbane is...............the river will be down in a few days........................tv stations are vying for ratings.....im sick to death of ch 9 stating such false info about many areas being so bad............for sure there are some that are doing it tough but generally most of brisbane is high and dry

back to normal in two weeks people.............

So tell us ----> why are those hundreds of people helping out in literally street after street in Graceville, Fairfield, West End, Milton, Auchenflower, Rocklea, Goodna, Toowong, etc....the army, police, etc....thousands of ppl helping hundreds of families clean up their homes...some which are just too bad to salvage....I was at Graceville this week helping others clean up the total and utter **** and mud from their homes....by the time we left each house it was just the slab and external walls....gyprock, carpet, furniture, personal belongings all gone.....some houses are demo jobs from what me and the guys saw....most owners didnt have insurance (something like $6k per year becuase it was a 1974 flood zone.)

beat up?........:rolleyes:
 
This numbers may help with anyone in the flood area's,for anyone having have to reconnect the power supply there seems to be some animals:rolleyes: out there --Chis Lynch--0407 510329 is witH the ELEC TRADE UNINOS and will help you with any quote and give you idea if the price is too high don't fall the for first one that walks in the street..
 
"Toowoomba" didn't flood. My bro lives there and he said that the main street is a drain. In spite of being subject to flash flooding regularly, nothing is done.

This is not exactly true, yes the creeks flow through what is virtually the centre of town and meet at the back of the flour mills (may close permenantly due to damage), but council has spent many millions of dollars on flood mitigation for these creeks and had either aquired or had earmarked for aquisition many homes at risk during a 1 in 100 year event. These creeks only flow to 7 to 8 kilometres before they get to the centre of town which makes the volume of water all the more incredible. Interestingly a lot of "experts" are calling this a 1 in 500 year event for Toowoomba. I guess if old mother nature wants to knee you in the groin there is not much we can do about it :(
 
Just to give a update the new power pole will go up within 48 hours,the power lines entry ,, cross over another property and that is not legal anymore,so i'm up for a new pole,only took the power company 18 years to pick up on that problem:),, and a total refit on the elec's,the place is clean now,bobcat in yesterday to level the site,needs about 9 new stumps,4 internal doors,new kitchen,hws,bathroom,5 new windows,
i jacked up the house yesterday afternoon and it's level again one end
was down 90mm,the other 125mm,plus the guttering fell apart,and as i have to rip out the eves out to run the new power supply i will have to replace all that too,more or less it's just like a removal,start with a blank
internal..
Insurance tells me yesterday afternoon that they may take months to make up their minds,I don't have that time frame,this property is only one part of our businesses,but over the years it has returnedover 200k
in rental return,and 300k plus in cg,spending 35k to turn it back is no big problem..
 
Keep your chin up. Gees it must be so hard, but look what you have done so far, and keep looking to the future as you are.
 
In the last photo we have one across the park,we could not even see the roof on that one:),and the second last photo we have another one just around the corner from the factories lmr large dulex site or a least it was maybe lost about over 300k in value but i'm not worried,within 8 weeks
we will be back in business,and like the Federal Labor Member told me
when he was walking up the street the other day,when i asked him if there was any any help for property investors and sideshow alley Landlords like myself,if the Labor Government helps any landlords it will be the first time in history that he knows about,:rolleyes::rolleyes:,all i said was as he walked away while i was still talking,I VOTE ALSO..
 
You took the photos down.

Arrogant bast.....s some of them, sure he is not going to get your vote.

Good to hear you will soon be back in business, thinking of you, can only imagine the stress you have been under and all the hard work you have had to do.
 
Just an update, for the minority who thought this was a "media beat up". :rolleyes: We have flood insurance, and our insurer has accepted our claim and is paying our rent at an alternative home, but more than 8 months down the track, we still don't have a decision as to whether our home is going to be repaired or demolished. *sigh*

How's everybody else faring?
 
Gee, damn insurance companys taking thier time. Are they all like this? Hope you have resolution soon.
Ours is taking longer than normal, but we're not Robinson Crusoe, either.

The only people who I know of who've moved back home are those who weren't insured. They got money from the Appeal grants and got their homes fixed much quicker than people who have to wait on insurers. :eek: Most of them either never moved out, and just camped in their stripped-out house until it was repaired, or stayed with relatives. The ones I know of moved back into repaired homes in June and July.

The first trickle of insured people are about to move back home into their repaired houses over the next few weeks. The insurers have been pretty reasonable, they're just overwhelmed with the volume of claims. The wait for structural engineers, some trades, etc, is the issue, more so than the delays caused by processing of the claims.
 
I no longer believe this to be the case >
The insurers have been pretty reasonable, they're just overwhelmed with the volume of claims.
One year down the track - next week - and the only thing that's happened since the January post-flood clean-up is that our home finally got stripped out in October. So we now have studwork, brick veneer, a slab with structural failure, and a roof. And a very overgrown garden. :eek:

Still no decision on repair vs replace; the insurer wants to repair despite numerous expert reports indicating that it's not repairable due to a variety of structural failures. The insurer indicates that the issues raised by experts "aren't a concern", but doesn't explain why, even when measurements (eg of the degree of hogging of the slab) exceed Australian Standards, and independent certifiers say that the repaired building couldn't be certified. The Ombudsman says we may have a decision March-ish, though disturbingly sometimes indicates that they're not sure whether they'll have jurisdiction at all. So not even sure if Ombudsman is going to resolve it, or whether we have to go to Court. That'd be fun. :(

In the meantime, we run out of allowance for temporary accommodation next week; the policy's capped at one year. The fact that it's taken the insurer more than a year to process the claim, thus allowing no possibility of having had our home repaired in that timeframe, may give us a valid case to fight for the insurer to have to pay our rent for longer, but we still have to pay up in the meantime and wait on the Ombudsman to make that decision.

So even those with insurance, with a reputable insurer, are still doing it tough. :mad: Just in case you were in any doubt, The flood aftermath isn't nearly over.

This fight is the primary reason I've been so quiet on the forum of late. It's so gosh-darned infuriating, anxiety-inducting, frustrating, depressing, and energy-draining fighting the b*****ds. But I won't back down. I've had a pretty challenging few years, and one thing I've learned about myself is that I'm resilient and persistent. (Some would say stubborn. I prefer "persistent". :D)

I've thought of setting up a tent on the pavement outside our insurer's HQ when our rent allowance runs out next week, kids in tow, with a few signs, willing to tell anybody who'll listen our story. So if you see a tent on the pavement on Wickham Tce next week, stop by and say g'day. I'll try to spare you too much whinging if you tell me you're from Somersoft. ;)
 
Perp, you have been careful not to name your insurer and I'll respect that, but are some insurers noticeably worse than others or is it widespread?
 
A friend of mines is financially better off after the flood. The floodedhouse (IP) is in Fairfield, Brisbane. The insurer paid them rents during the time they were waiting for assessment. Then they opted to received 250K as anone off payment for the rebuilding of the house. But they are currently renovating the house with an estimated cost of 70K (it is nearly done now) and will re-rent it at 400kisk per week. They pocket nearly 200K.
OK the value of the house on the paper has sure been reduced, but they dont have to sell.
 
Perp, I can't think of what to say to you, except give my sympathy and empathy to you, which doesn't help you one bit.

Insurance companys are the pits. I had an insurance claim for a home invasion. The insurance company did fix the internal doors and painting within a few short months. The front security door took them seven attempts to readjust it, two doors and it still used to lock us in! It was meant to be new for old and the orginal replacement was a real cheap door as opposed to the top of the range, at the time security door that was fitted. (Nail guns, and drunk, drug fueled, morbidly obese men can break anything). Finally after lots of phone calls, emails they bought another company in and a whole new door was fitted and we have a functioning security door, but that took eleven months to fix that. Then I only claimed $125 for broken personal effects, a lousy $125 and that took them 12 months to pay. In the scheme of things compared to your house it is nothing, a small simple claim and they could not get thier act together.

I do hope you have some resolution soon, and the bas..................ds continue to pay your rent.
 
I know that quite a few of us know who you are insured with from previous posts singing their praises. I'm assuming you stayed with the same company that looked after you so well the previous time you were flooded?

I am shocked that they are dragging this on, and disrupting your lives for so long. I cannot imagine that they could possibly get away with not continuing to pay your rent when it is their heel-dragging that has been the cause of you having to rent. It's not like you have any other option.

Have you thought of going to (shock, horror :eek:) Today Tonight or one of those shows. Perhaps keep your dignity and try The 7.30 Report.

Unbelievable!!!

I wondered why you had been so quiet, but really never, ever considered it was because you were fighting the *******$ for the most basic of things that insurance is supposed to pay for and provide. I just assumed you were getting on with rebuilding and were busy doing that.

I really hope someone steps up and does the right thing with your claim, but going on your experience to date, I won't hold my breath.

Chin up girl! Stick it to them!

Best wishes. I wish there was something I could to.
 
Perp, you have been careful not to name your insurer and I'll respect that, but are some insurers noticeably worse than others or is it widespread?
Ours has an excellent reputation. And in fairness, they were great with our previous claim, and fabulous dealing with our contents claim. I think that the problem is that they got overwhelmed with the scale of the event, and the handling of many housing (as opposed to contents) claims was outsourced to an ASX-listed construction company. That's where the problems lie, methinks. But the insurer is, nonetheless, ultimately responsible for the actions of their agents.
A friend of mines is financially better off after the flood.
I'm glad to hear it. I also know of people who made a profit on their government grants, who didn't even have insurance. :mad: We just want a structurally sound home again, as we had before the flood.
Perp, I can't think of what to say to you, except give my sympathy and empathy to you, which doesn't help you one bit.
It warms the cockles of my hearts, and it does help to know that some people care. I had to say something because it just burns me when I hear people say that "it wasn't a big deal" and "everybody's moved on". Pfffft! And, of course, this is only material stuff - the poor people who lost loved ones are much more significantly impacted, of course, and will continue to be so for a very long time. I'm sorry to hear the difficulties you had with a relatively straightforward claim.
I know that quite a few of us know who you are insured with from previous posts singing their praises. I'm assuming you stayed with the same company that looked after you so well the previous time you were flooded?
Yes. As per above, I think it was the involvement of third parties - particularly a third party who had a vested interest in the outcome. (The third party would have had the job of project managing the reconstruction if we'd repaired, whereas if we get written off and rebuild, we can choose whichever builder we want, and they probably wouldn't get the work.)
wylie said:
I am shocked that they are dragging this on, and disrupting your lives for so long. I cannot imagine that they could possibly get away with not continuing to pay your rent when it is their heel-dragging that has been the cause of you having to rent. It's not like you have any other option.
Yes, up until fairly recently my "give people the benefit of the doubt" attitude also assumed that eventually we'd encounter somebody reasonable who'd resolve the situation. But there must be something going on behind the scenes that we don't know about, as their conduct on this particular issue has been 180 degrees compared to previous dealings. I wonder if they've hit a re-insurance limit, or management have put too much pressure on claims managers to reduce payouts or something. Previously, they seemed to bend over backwards to put everything right (to the extent possible), yet they're now being obstructionist and acting in bad faith, eg repeating statements which have been proven false, and neglecting to provide key evidence (in our favour) to independent reviewers. Appalling. It's still hard to know how much is related to incompetence (or miscommunication, from too many cooks), and how much is due to trying to minimise their liability. Either way, I've had a gutful.
wylie said:
Have you thought of going to (shock, horror :eek:) Today Tonight or one of those shows. Perhaps keep your dignity and try The 7.30 Report.
Much as I loathe to contemplate it, that's definitely a consideration.
 
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