People who were displaced for any period were more likely to have probable anxiety and post-traumatic stress than people who were not exposed to the flood, according to Dr Jo Longman, a social scientist at the University Centre for Rural health.
Dr Longman examines the health of people living in rural Australia, and the mental-health impacts of climate change.
She led a cross-sectional survey six months after the devastating 2017 floods in the Northern Rivers to examine how it impacted the mental health of affected communities.
“We found that people who were socio-economically disadvantaged and socially marginalised were more likely to have their homes flooded and to be displaced than those not disadvantaged.
“People who were ‘still not home’ after six months had double the probability of reporting continuing distress and symptoms of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression when compared to those who were briefly displaced.
“Insurance disputes or denials were an important stressor after the flood, associated with ongoing distress and depression.
“Of the 2500 people who took part in our survey six months after the Northern Rivers flood, 521 had their home or yard flooded and had insurance coverage. Of those, 18 percent had an insurance dispute or denial.
“People told us about their difficulties with insurance including: affordability, denial of a claim, lack of clarity and consistency in insurance policies and customer care including claims handling, dispute resolution and delays. For example, one respondent said: ‘… applications were lost, delaying any help for many weeks. This was a greater mental stress than the physical clean up’.”
