00:00As Vicki and Jeff Woodhouse survey the block where their family home once stood, they think
00:07back in amazement to the scale of the floods that hit Shepparton in 2022.
00:13We did not think that the house would be inundated with water to the extent that it was.
00:18They were initially told by their insurance company they'd need to rebuild their property
00:22like for like, but they knew that would leave them unable to insure the new house.
00:27To me, logically, why would you refit our home at the current floor level, which is setting
00:35me up to flood again?
00:37Shepparton is the most at-risk suburb in Australia, with almost 90% of its properties considered
00:43uninsurable.
00:45What we do in Shepparton, how we solve this, can be a blueprint for how we're going to solve
00:51this in hundreds of suburbs around Australia.
00:53But if we don't solve it, it will also be a blueprint of what demise looks like.
01:01Climate risk analysis shows more than 80 suburbs around Australia are now critical risk zones,
01:07where more than 80% of properties are considered to be at high risk of climate-related damage.
01:13Getting insurance in Shepparton is now almost impossible.
01:16We're seeing $30,000 a year increases, which is completely unrealistic.
01:21But without it, there's no access to mortgage funds through the banks, a vicious cycle that's
01:27leaving residents high and dry, and the local council, outraged.
01:31They're not willing to engage with those community members because it doesn't allow them to generate
01:35more revenue.
01:36But experts say blaming the insurance companies doesn't solve the problem.
01:40Forcing the insurers to do things which are commercial suicide is not a solution.
01:45They want insurers, banks and the government to work together to future-proof flood-prone communities.
01:50If we are faced with flood events like we've experienced in 2022, it'll be those same
01:55seven, eight, nine hundred houses that will be impacted again.
01:58We want to make sure that they can build back better.
02:01Vicky and Jeff Woodhouse eventually negotiated a financial settlement and relocated.
02:06We decided that it was all too much to build a new home and it was time to move on.
02:12Drastic measures for a growing problem.
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