South East Queensland Flood Report - An Interview with Rachael Hirsch

Rachael Hirsch is an Insurance Broker and Account Manager at Stellar Insurance Brokers in Brisbane. Advisr caught up with Rachael to hear about their unique experience as both flooded and impacted brokerage as well as broker to many businesses and individuals affected by the flooding in South East Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Here is what Rachael had to say.

 

Unfortunately as our office sits along Breakfast Creek in Brisbane, the lower level which houses our in-house creche has been impacted by flood waters. We have been restricted in gaining access to the office which also has no power therefore the team is working remotely for the time being. This, too, has come with its own challenges with over half the team experiencing power and internet outages in their homes. However they’re working hard to find solutions around this, including going wherever they can to get internet access, so they can be available as much as possible to support our clients in this challenging time. Once we can get back into the office, things will be a bit quieter without the kids while we get their area back together but on the plus side, they’ll have some nice new toys to play with when they return.

 

We all hoped we would never see the 2011 Floods again but unfortunately this feels a lot like that and is understandably quite challenging for some clients and businesses to come to terms with all over again. The circumstances will be different for each client and so too will their response. In most cases, our clients are remaining positive and optimistic and showing some incredible community spirit to so many others who have been impacted by this disaster.

 

Our clients have and will always be our number one priority and we will always do whatever we can to be there to support them, especially in these uncertain times. It’s been a challenging week with a few bumps along the road and will likely be for some time yet but this definitely won’t stop us doing what we need to for our clients!  

 

We are already seeing clients getting into their properties (where they can), starting the clean-up and assessing what the damages are, notifying insures and organising immediate works or assessments to get underway. This will continue for some time and will definitely ramp up soon – right now there is still more rain on the way so we are all a bit on edge to see if that has any more impact. The roadmap to recovery will take weeks and even months as the south east recovers but we will get there and come out stronger for it!

 

It’s situations like these that reiterate that you really can’t predict these sorts of events occurring and how important it is to have the appropriate insurance and broker in place to protect you against the unknown. For us, there is definitely some learning to be had along the way as to how we can best respond and be available to our clients when disaster hits – hopefully not any time soon though!

 

We, at Stellar Insurance Brokers, are sending all our love and support to those across QLD and NSW who have been impacted by the recent events and are here to support you in any way we can during this incredibly challenging time. We are always just a phone call away. Together, we will come out stronger than ever!

 

You can connect with Rachael here: Rachael Hirsch

Connect with Stellar Insurance Brokers here: Stellar Insurance Brokers