New Flood Cover Offer
Illawarra Mercury
Monday August 30, 1999
The NRMA and Australian Pensioners Insurance have announced that storm-related flood cover will be included as part of their home and contents insurance policies at no additional cost.
The announcement comes a year after storms devastated Wollongong homes and triggered a battle by storm victims to gain compensation from their insurance companies, including the NRMA.
After strong protests to the NRMA's annual meeting in Sydney, the board voted to pay out on all claims.
Other companies followed their example but a number, including QBE, still refuse to budge.
NRMA president Nick Whitlam said the new inclusion, effective immediately for all new and existing policies, would cover loss or damage to home and contents caused by storm-related flood up to the insured amount.
``Policy holders will be covered for flooding that occurs during a storm which has impacted on a neighbourhood and where the rise in water levels has been the direct result of that storm," he said.
``By introducing such cover, the NRMA has responded to community expectations heightened by major events such as the Wollongong and Coffs Harbour floods."
He said intensive work had been carried out over the past year by the NRMA and a team of experts to develop a product that provided storm-related flood cover.
An Australian Pensioners' Insurance company spokesman confirmed his company would also offer storm-related flood cover from September 1.
In October last year, the NRMA announced it expected to pay about 90 per cent of all buildings and contents claims at a cost of about $23million.
However later that month, in a policy backflip, the NRMA said it would pay out on all insurance claims including 129 unresolved ones.
On October 30 GIO said it would not budge despite the NRMA's decision, but on November 4 reversed its stance and announced it would make ex-gratia payments.
Yesterday a spokesman for Wollongong's Storm Water Action group, Kevin Watt, welcomed the insurance companies' decisions to offer storm-related flood cover.
``This is the crack in the wall and other insurance companies must follow on," he said.
SWAG president Richard Nederkoorn said: ``At last there is light at the end of the tunnel for everyone that has been fighting for storm coverage."
© 1999 Illawarra Mercury
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