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Blackman: We’ve been left high and dry by QBE flood report by Stephen Hagan “I can’t believe how an insurance company can live with themselves for spending more on a hydrology report than it would’ve cost them to repair the damages of our properties affected by Clyclone Oswald earlier this year,” said Kerry Blackman, CEO of Gidarjil Development Corporation, in an interview with First Nations Telegraph yesterday. On April 11 Mr Blackman (pictured) contacted the First Nations Telegraph after experiencing sheer frustration of gaining no response from his emails or telephone calls to Elders Insurance in his hometown of Bundaberg to have claims for water damage repairs of his three properties honoured. “We not only feel devastated by Elders’ refusal to honour our claim but we also feel totally ripped off by the difference in the cost of Elders and our new insurer,” Mr Blackman said when he realised the
new insurance quote for all his properties for a year was $5000 cheaper. After attempting to contact Elders and being referred by their sales representative to QBE in Sydney for a response, First Nations Telegraph finally received word from a QBE spokesperson on the morning of April 12, hours before going to print, that Mr Blackman would be informed of the outcome of a hydrology report within the week. Despondently for Mr Blackman, his directors and tenants of the properties destroyed by Cyclone Oswald the news from QBE’s detailed 29 page hydrology report was not good. “We are of the opinion that the sole cause of water inundation of the property, commencing at approximately 4:00am Monday, 27 January 2013, was flooding, in accordance with Water Technology’s definition of ‘flooding’ as described in Section 7 of this report,” the report read. The report gave an explanation as to why the water inundation to Gidarjil Development Corporation’s properties was not caused by Stormwater
“Given that rainfall had ceased by Sunday morning (27/1/2013) at approximately 8:00am and that water had not entered the property until approximately 4:00am Monday morning, 28/01/13, it is not considered that localised rainfall or localised stormwater was a factor in the inundation damage or local flows in the adjacent drain,” the report continued. The hydrology report then went onto explain the general characteristics of stormwater are: * Inundation only occurs during or soon after the cessation of rainfall. * The inundation does not last long. * The inundation water generally has a high velocity. * In areas with a negligible grade the inundated water will pond; the water will leave the area slowly by a combination of slow drainage and evaporation. This may occur days after the event. * However, stormwater inundation of this form is usually
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limited to the depth of rainfall, as the water (generally) ponds and does not concentrate via overland flow. * The inundation depth is generally very shallow (e.g. approximately 100mm to 200mm). Note that there are exceptions to this general rule. For example, one exception is where stormwater runoff from roads is concentrated in a certain area due to poor drainage. * Stormwater generally flows in a downhill direction. * As the insured did not state to witness any of the above flow characteristics during the inundation of the property, the inundation that occurred is more likely to be due to a water course that is now in flood as described in Section 7 of this report. QBE ended their report by stating “we conclude that the sole cause of water inundation on this site, commencing at or shortly after 4:00am in the morning of Monday 28 January 2013, was flooding, in accordance with Water Technology’s definition of “flooding” as described in Section 7 of this report. We further conclude that there was no inundation by stormwater, in accordance with Water Technology’s definition of “stormwater” as described in Section 7 of this report.” “We have arrived at this opinion because we believe the inundation of the property to be caused by the Burnett River and not from any localised rainfall event that would generate sufficient localised runoff to cause stormwater type inundation.” Mr Blackman said he was bitterly disappointed in the findings of the hydrology report and he was now in discussion with his directors on the appropriate legal action they should take. “What happened to us here in
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Bundaberg can happen to any Indigenous housing company or any company for that matter when it comes to the big Insurance companies reneging on genuine claims,” Mr Blackman said. “Our mob should vote with their feet and take their business elsewhere if they feel they’re not receiving the service they should get from their insurance company.” Mr Blackman said the big insurance companies seem to be changing the goal post all the time and small organisations like his are “left high and dry” when it comes to having their claims honoured. “I feel guttered and ripped off by
this outcome and feel sorry for our tenants of the affected properties who remain with relatives after losing everything in the floods,” Mr Blackman said. “This insurance company uses fancy words to differentiate between floodwater and stormwater - but at the end of the day it all came from Cyclone Oswald - and we’re suppose to be insured against cyclone damage. “But like our Elders before us who experienced similar setbacks in their times, we’ll just have to pick ourselves up from this disaster and move on with our lives.”