Hundreds of residents in Melbourne’s inner-west are calling or compensation from the state government after finding themselves disadvantaged by flood zone changes. Kensington Banks homeowners are grappling with plummeting property values and brutal price hikes to their insurance.
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00:00Subra Srinivasan couldn't see water from his Kensington Bank's home when the floods hit
00:08in 2022. But it's now washed away his house's value.
00:13From seeing the estimates in realestate.com.au, it's already about $150,000.
00:20His is among 900 homes that have suddenly been deemed flood-prone by Melbourne Water
00:25under new modelling, despite never being flooded. And it's proving costly.
00:32The insurance has gone up and gone up big time.
00:36Hundreds of frustrated and uncertain residents packed Kensington Town Hall last night, with
00:42many stunned by their sudden insurance hikes.
00:46I felt sick. I felt physically sick. I honestly went into shock.
00:52People are wanting the state government to act, and whether that's compensation, buybacks,
00:57flood mitigation, people just want the state government to acknowledge that it's the state
01:00government that's put residents in this incredibly difficult position.
01:04Among the residents' demands is the removal of the Flemington Racecourse flood wall, which
01:09exacerbated the 2022 flooding and physical flood mitigation works.
01:15This is one of the huge challenges with flood mitigation. If you build a piece of mitigation
01:19infrastructure, it may solve a problem for one part of the catchment and create a different problem.
01:24And with more flood zoning changes expected to be made across Melbourne, insurance experts
01:30say government policy changes would be more effective than shopping for a new insurer.
01:36This is the only way there's going to be significant changes. When the Australian public says we
01:40can't sustain this kind of insurance model much longer because we can't afford the price increases.
01:46Experts here are working to stay high and dry.