A series of natural disasters in recent years means it has never been more difficult to get affordable home insurance. A climate council report says 80 suburbs throughout Australia are now deemed "critical risk zones" and has urged authorities to work with insurance companies to find answers.
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00:00As Vicki and Jeff Woodhouse survey the block where their family home once stood, they think back in amazement to the scale of the floods that hit Shepparton in 2022.
00:12We 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 like for like, but they knew that would leave them unable to insure the new house.
00:26To me, logically, why would you refit our home at the current floor level, which is setting me up to flood again?
00:37Shepparton is the most at-risk suburb in Australia, with almost 90% of its properties considered uninsurable.
00:44What we do in Shepparton, how we solve this, can be a blueprint for how we're going to solve this 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.
01:00Climate risk analysis shows more than 80 suburbs around Australia are now critical risk zones, where more than 80% of properties are considered to be at high risk of climate-related damage.
01:12Getting insurance in Shepparton is now almost impossible.
01:16We're seeing $30,000 a year increases, which is completely unrealistic.
01:21But experts say blaming the insurance companies doesn't solve the problem.
01:26Forcing the insurers to do things which are commercial suicide is not a solution.
01:30They want insurers, banks and the government to work together to future-proof flood-prone communities.
01:36If we are faced with flood events like we've experienced in 22, it'll be those same 7, 8, 900 houses that will be impacted again.
01:44We want to make sure that they can build back better.
01:46Vicky and Jeff Woodhouse eventually negotiated a financial settlement and relocated.
01:51We decided that it was all too much to build a new home and it was time to move on.
01:58Drastic measures for a growing problem.