Time to stop building in flood zones

I understand that the governments in both some Australian states and the UK have started to question whether planning permission should be given to developments in flood prone areas. The latest to be put on hold is a development that was to take place adjacent to the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales.

I have been saying for over a decade now that to allow young families to buy homes or to have business owners set up in flood prone areas is just setting them up to fail. The financial and human cost is immence and no prudent insurer is going to insure against a certainty.

As Australians, we do like to live near the water. It is great to have a river or lake as our neighbour but we cannot be surprised when this neighbour wants to come visit us.

I am not alone here. Climate scientists and the Insurance Council of Australia have been warning of this much longer than I have.

If you are contemplating buying a home, setting up or moving your business, please consider the natural hazards that the location has. This not only includes flood, but bush fire, storm surge, landslip, cyclone, tornado and in some parts of the world earthquake, tsunami and volcanic eruption.

Life is all about managing risk and to ignore these very real risks is a recipe for disaster.

On the subject of managing risk, it astounds me just how many people continue to drive through flooded water ways. This is just plain stupid. It puts you and your passengers lives at risk, those that come to rescue you and can seriously damage the vehicle. Many motor policies now treat this as a deliberate act and exclude the claim.

“If only” are truly the saddest words in the English language.