Buildings and contents
Homestead, sheds and contents damaged by flood water where the flood section has been included.
Farm Flood Insurance
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Farm Flood Insurance
How farm policies treat flood, storm and runoff damage.
Flood is the peril where the wording does the work. Australian policies use a standard definition of flood, and it sits apart from storm, rainwater runoff and actions of the sea. On a farm the damage spreads out: silt through the machinery shed, fencing wrapped in debris, pumps drowned, stock stranded and paddocks out of production for months afterwards.
What is it?
Flood is commonly an optional or separately rated section on farm policies, and availability depends heavily on where the buildings sit relative to the floodplain. Flood-prone Australian farming country includes the Northern Rivers and Hawkesbury-Nepean in New South Wales, the Lockyer and Fitzroy valleys in Queensland, and irrigation districts along the Murray and Murrumbidgee. Insurers generally assess by address, not by property.
What does farm flood insurance cover?
Machinery and stored produce
Plant, fodder and grain damaged by inundation, subject to the sums insured and policy terms.
Livestock and fencing
Stock drowned and fencing destroyed or fouled by flood debris, treated as defined events.
What affects the cost?
- Building locations and flood mapping
- Height above known flood levels
- History of inundation on the site
- Where machinery is normally stored
- Flood excess selected
Worth raising on the call
- Damage from rainwater running across a paddock is not always the same thing as flood under the policy wording.
- Moving machinery to higher ground ahead of a rising river is mitigation insurers generally view favourably.
- Flood availability is assessed by address, so two sheds on the same farm can be treated quite differently.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Machinery shed inundated
River water comes through a machinery shed and silt and water damage a tractor, a boom spray and the workshop fit-out. What is payable generally depends on whether the flood section was taken for that specific address and on how machinery is described in the schedule.
Fencing buried in flood debris
Kilometres of fencing are flattened and wrapped in debris after a river peak, so the line has to be cleared before any rebuild can start. Debris clearing and fence reinstatement are often treated as separate cost lines within limited sub-limits.
Fodder and grain ruined by water
Hay stored in a low shed and grain in field bins are inundated and written off after a flood event. Fodder and harvested produce usually carry their own limits and their own storage conditions.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether the policy uses the Australian standard definition of flood and how that definition separates from storm, rainwater runoff and actions of the sea.
- Worth confirming which specific buildings and locations the flood section applies to, since availability is generally assessed address by address rather than property by property.
- Worth confirming whether machinery and produce moved to higher ground, or normally kept away from the insured buildings, is still covered where it actually sits.
Common questions
Is flood automatically included on a farm policy?
Not usually. Flood is commonly an optional or separately rated section on Australian farm policies, and it can be unavailable or heavily conditioned for buildings sitting on a floodplain. It is one of the most important items to check line by line rather than assume.
What is the difference between flood and storm damage?
Australian policies use a standard definition of flood that covers water escaping from a watercourse, lake, dam or reservoir, while storm and rainwater runoff are generally treated as different perils with different terms. Which one applies can change what is payable. That is why the wording matters more on this peril than almost anywhere else.
Can I get flood cover if my farm has flooded before?
Sometimes, with higher excesses, reduced limits or specific buildings left out, and sometimes not for the worst-exposed structures. Insurers assess by address and flood mapping rather than by the property as a whole. A broker can approach multiple markets, but availability cannot be assumed.
Does moving equipment before a flood affect the claim?
Mitigation is generally viewed favourably, and some policies contribute to reasonable costs incurred to prevent or reduce a loss. Insurers can also raise a failure to act when there was clear warning. It is worth confirming whether mitigation costs are addressed in the wording and keeping records of what was moved and when.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See farm insurance for the wider picture.
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