Michael Clair thought his Brisbane home had made it through Australia's most expensive natural disaster unscathed.
But in December he opened a renewal notice for house insurance and his premium had tripled.
Market analysts say it is a story echoed across Queensland, and the rest of the country, as the effects of climate change and inflation are realised.
The peak body for insurers said a range of factors are leading to increased premiums across flood-affected areas, as insurers attempt to offset $5 billion in losses from the 2022 east-coast flood disaster and mitigate future disaster risk.
Now insurers are working with authorities in a Commonwealth-funded partnership to put downward pressure on premiums.
Mr Clair moved into his Norman Park Queenslander, in Brisbane's south-east, 32 years ago.
While the sloping block is in a flood zone, he said waters barely lapped at his back fence in 2011 and 2022.
"It would have to be 5 metres of water, and that's just not going to happen," the retiree said.
So when his premium jumped from an annual $750 to nearly $2,500, he went to a broker who got a new deal for $1,200 that did not include flood cover.
It is a similar story in Bundaberg for Rodney Horton.
While the regional city has had a number of floods in recent years, his property has never been affected – but that has not stopped his premium from rising.
"Within less than three years it's gone up by 100 per cent," he said.
Mr Horton, who works as a cleaner, said it has become the biggest drain on his monthly budget.
"It's coming to the point where I won't be able to manage it for much longer, you can't just keep paying more and more when your wage is only going up a couple of per cent," he said.
"You spend your life paying insurance and when push comes to shove, a storm's going to come, and you haven't got insurance because they've just made it impossible to pay it."
Bigger increases to come for many
Market analyst Chris Ford said the worst shocks could be yet to come as changes to council flood maps begin to affect premiums.
"If you're coming for renewal in June or July, you're going to see that big increase, it may be more than you think," he said.
"Although they may not have seen a drop of water on their property, there may be different risks now associated with that property, each insurer assesses risk differently."
He said while no home in Australia was technically uninsurable, insurance was becoming unaffordable for some people.
"It's really as to whether or not it's going to be a responsible measure for that homeowner to make, from a cost perspective," Mr Ford said.
"In New South Wales, one instance, we saw a premium of more than $20,000, that's where it's becoming unaffordable rather than uninsurable."
He said some people were taking measures into their own hands to reduce the impacts of flooding on their homes, like raising or retrofitting properties.
Last week a new Commonwealth-funded partnership between insurers, politicians and climate authorities met in Brisbane for the first time.
The Hazards Insurance Partnership wants to put downward pressure on premiums.
Push to revisit level of taxes on premiums
Insurance Council CEO Andrew Hall said last year's flood rewrote records across the east coast, and that cost insurers.
"Flood is one of our most expensive events that happen from an insurance perspective, and they're very predictable," Mr Hall said.
"We know where a flood is going to strike, so one of the things we've been talking about with the government is how can we take some of the resilience in investment money, lower those risks in those areas."
The council wants governments to reduce the rate of tax included in premiums.
"So people may not be aware, but when they pay their insurance premium, they're paying both state and federal government taxes in that premium," Mr Hall said.
"It is time that as a country which desperately needs affordable insurance, we step back and ask the question, whether taxing insurance premiums is actually an effective way to raise the money."
