Isolation, uncertainty and mixed responses from insurers in the wake of an unprecedented Parkes flood event have been raised at a Parliamentary Inquiry's central west hearings.
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Cr Ken Keith OAM, who was mayor when disaster struck the shire on November 14, 2022, has addressed the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into the insurance response to the 2022 floods.
In the wake of 100mm of widespread rain, three creeks combined east of Parkes to swell through homes and wash away livestock in a way the shire hadn't seen before, he told the committee.
"The event came, as you'd probably all be aware now, early in the morning, and residents really didn't have any warning or any time to take preparatory action," Cr Keith said.
Some 135 homes were impacted that day, he told the Inquiry.
Those worst affected were cut off by the floodwaters and the approaches to the Billabong Bridge washed away.
"Because we hadn't experienced floods as such before, to any extent, anyway, most of the residents were unsure how to deal with it," Cr Keith said.
"It came up quickly and then it went down quickly. Because it was only less than 24 hours when the floodwater was in their homes, the initial advice was, 'It will dry out and you'll be right.'
"But that wasn't the case and it turned out that all of that gyprock had to be removed and kitchens had to be taken out so that the houses could dry. It took up to 10 months for most houses to fully dry out."
People's experiences with their insurance in the days and weeks that followed were "a real mixed basket" but nothing happened quickly, Cr Keith said.
"People thought they'd just lodge their claim and have some money in the bank and be able to continue to put shoes on their kids, send them off to school and whatever, or replace the clothing," he said.
"But most of it took a fair bit of time to come through. It didn't happen overnight.
"Some had very good experiences with their insurance companies and others didn't. Others had to fight for it, and others received payment without any stress."
Cr Keith told the inquiry of a family who lived in a caravan for more than 12 months.
Another family has only had their claim progressed this year: it was initially refused.
"They went to the recovery centre established by the State Government and spoke with a Legal Aid lawyer there," Cr Keith said.
"The recovery centre, I might add, was very successful and appreciated by all of the residents of the Parkes Shire.
"Only last week, nearly 18 months after the event, did an independent panel find in this particular family's favour."
Whether the water that came through a home was stormwater or floodwater became a sticking point for some, and that's an issue that needs to be addressed by the industry, Cr Keith told the inquiry.
"If it's going to have the same impact, with a flood event or a storm event that comes through at a metre, the colour of the water doesn't make any difference to the damage to the house, and how that's happened," Cr Keith said.
Advice on how to proceed, and having insurance representatives on the ground quickly, would be invaluable.
The community rallied to support our flood-hit neighbours, rolling in to help remove wet carpets and furniture.
"But in a lot of cases, people hadn't photographed what furniture went and what cupboards went and so forth," Cr Keith said.
"When they went to lodge their insurance claim, they said, 'Give us proof of what you had in the house.'
"Some of them didn't have that proof. There's a really important lesson to be learned from that. In these bushfires, floods or whatever it is, if people go around and take photos of their house before this stressful time arrives, that's one thing less they've got to do and it makes it easier for that process afterwards."
But the event of November 14, 2022, was very different to anything that had happened in the previous 100 years the community just couldn't have prepared.
"Lake Endeavour had much more water going over the spillway out there, and we've spent $15 million on it only 10-12 years ago, upgrading the spillway and extending and reinforcing the wall," Cr Keith said.
"The water overflowed it to I think 0.2 of a metre or something like that, but it had been 1.6 metres over the top; that's when the red alert goes on that it's going to flood downstream.
"Maybe it's having water depth or some telemetry out on these smaller creeks as well that needs to be put in if that eventuates out of a flood study so we know that, if there's water in all of the tributaries, we've got at least a couple of hours warning that we're in trouble in the centre of town."
Cr Keith said a previous Parkes Shire Council application to the State Government to do a flood study had been unsuccessful "because Parkes doesn't flood."
"We certainly have done flood studies of some of the other communities who have flooded-Trundle and Bogan Gate, Cookamidgera, just out the other side of Parkes," he said.
"We want to get Parkes now done with a detailed hydrology report that will estimate from rainfall events what level of water is likely to inundate the areas affected, and whether there's any preventative action we can do in advance."
