Creswick local, Sandy Campbell, is just one of about 50 residents recorded to still be displaced after the January storms left her three-bedroom home inhabitable.

Ms Campbell is now sleeping in her caravan, along with her partner in her backyard and estimated the damage to her home including its contents caused by the storms to equate to about $75,000.

"The storm water flooded through the front of the house, through the the low pitched ceiling and completely wet our carpets and resulted in all of the plaster from the main bedroom being pulled out and all the carpets being taken up too," she said.

"A tree also fell on our house so we've got a massive hole in the roof of our main bedroom as well."

While Ms Campbell said her insurer Australian Seniors, whose claims administration is managed by Hollard Group and Claims Central Consolidated, had fixed the asbestos problem in the external eaves of her home, placed tarp over her roof, sent several 'make-safe' teams to assess her solar panels - which have since been turned off - and sent two electrician teams to manage loose electrical points - which have also been switched off since January. Only sections of her home were in a liveable condition.

"We're having to live in our caravan since we can only use parts of our house such as the bathroom and the lounge room," she said.

Ms Campbell said initially, though she found it difficult to navigate the claims process and understand who she was actually discussing her claims with, she did receive an email from the Hollard Group on January 6, a day after the floods, which stated someone from the group would be appointed to assist her with her claims process.

However she said, since this time, no one from the group had come to help her with her claims.

"They (the Hollard Group) said that there was going to be a person who would be in control of (the claim) process and till this day I still haven't got any help," Ms Cambell said.

It was only after talking to other residents, who were in a similar circumstance to her, did she take it upon herself to manage her claims herself and coordinate the process with intermediary, Claims Central Consolidated.

Self-managing her claims sadly however has not been an easy process for Ms Campbell as she said often with different situations she was unaware of what she needed done.

"It's only through talking to other people who are going through the same thing who have said, 'oh, you need a hygienist to come around' that I've known what I needed done and when I asked Claim Central about it they said they could arrange that but that was never offered upfront and I didn't know that I needed that upfront because I thought the work would be repaired up fairly quickly," she said.

Mark Challess is another Creswick resident who has also experienced difficulties when it came to dealing with his insurer for his wedding business, Tumblers Green and three-bedroom home which sit on the same land and are still inhabitable.

Mr Challess said he estimated the damage the storms caused his home and business to amount to more than $100,000.

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While he wished not to mention the name of his insurer as he is still in negotiations with them, he said the process of getting his claims assessed had been "extremely stressful" and "time consuming."

"We only just had our first financial amount paid to us just last week for our contents for things like our fridge, washing machine, curtains and matress which were damaged," Mr Challess said.

Mr Challess and his wife Kathryn Challess said other than the emergency accommodation their insurer provided them, there was still a great deal of structural repairs that needed attention.

"We're in a motel here in Ballarat and we're very comfortable at the moment and that's been covered for by our insurance policy but that's not quite the same as being in your own home," Ms Challess said.

"We're very lucky to have emergency accommodation but we still haven't got any of our claims back for structural damages."

Mr Challess said he had found the whole process painstakingly slow, infuriating and emotionally draining.

"We're all traumatised because of the whole situation," he said.

"We expected matters to be tended to like getting your car fixed when it's an accident and it was only after three months that we realised this isn't going to happen quickly."

Mr Challess said it was also challenging to ascertain when his insurer did send tradespeople to attend to repairs at his house and business whether the tasks they were assigned to do were appropriate.

"When they (the insurer) have somebody come out to do a job, we might approve the job that they're doing but we really don't know where that fits in relation to the next step (of the process) and that's really difficult because you just presume that it will happen in a sequential and efficient way and in your best interest," he said.

Ms Campbell said the delays in repairs to her home had not only caused her immense heartache, shock and grief for what she had lost but had also resulted in additional issues to occur.

"Because repairs have just sat there I've now got mould growing in the house and as time escalates the damage to my home keeps on worsening," she said.

Mr and Ms Challess along with Ms Campbell said they believed the Hepburn Shire Council, while satisfied with the community recovery sessions the council held with clinical psychologist and consultant for the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, Education and Training, Dr Rob Gordon helpful, they said moving forward the council should provide more support to residents when it came to understanding their insurance policies.

"The council needs to provide an opportunity for those that are having difficulties with this (claims) process to get together and discuss things because there are people that are aged who have been forced into a situation because they've just gone along with what their insurance said," Mr Challess said.

Ms Campbell added: "We've had three big floods here in Creswick in 2010, 2011 and we had this event just recently, we are bound to have more of these events going forwards with climate change and the council needs to be able to help residents with how they should go about the claims process and complaints."

"The council needs to have these skills and they need have them quick," she said.

Ms Challess said the process of how to understand claims did not need to be overly complex and could easily be summarised in a pamphlet.

"There wasn't really anything constructive about the claims process provided by the council and more guidance on how to approach insurance companies and how to deal with the pushback, especially when you don't know who to contact if you were hitting your head against a brick wall could all just be written down on a piece paper and handed out (to the community)," she said.

Hepburn Shire Council mayor Tim Drylie said council was aware of the frustration community members had faced with their insurance companies particularly surrounding the lack of response and delays in providing support by insurers.

However, he said it was not the council's role to process insurance claims for individuals.

"We acknowledge the concern being felt by our community," Cr Drylie said.

"We have spoken generally to the Insurance Council of Australia about these delays, along with speaking to a number of insurance agencies to advocate for individual property owners disputing their insurance assessments.

"We have been able to provide evidence through researching, planning and building records to refute insurance company claims that properties were non-compliant - thereby enabling payouts.

"Council's role is not to process insurance claims for individuals, we can only work with insurance companies on behalf of impacted community members. Individuals can and are encouraged to make a compliant to their insurance agency or to the Insurance Council of Australia."

A spokesperson from the Insurance Council of Australia said the claims process for the storm damage in Creswick had not been categorised as an "insurance catastrophe."

They said, while there was no specific criteria to determine whether the claims process was considered an "insurance catastrophe" it did take into account "damage of the insured property" as well as "the impact it had on the intersections of the community." They said each scenario is assessed on a "case-by-case basis."

The spokesperson also added the delays in repair works could be attributed to a myriad of factors including the "scarcity of tradespeople and building supplies."

"If people are awaiting the next step, they should contact their insurer and if they are really unhappy they can start an Internal Dispute Resolution (IDR) complaint."

Ms Campbell is currently in the process of lodging a complaint with assistance from non-profit organisation, Child and Family Services (CAFS) Ballarat regarding the lengthy delays she has experienced with Australian Seniors to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority.

She said the basis of her complaint is drawn from an independent builder's report which identified repairs to her home could be completed within three weeks. She aims to seek compensation in the form of a cash settlement.

If unsuccessful, she said she plans to appeal the decision directly to the authority.

Hepburn Shire Council encourgaes anyone needing assistance after the January storms to contact a member of their storm recovery team on (03) 4373 7373. To find out more about help the council has made available click here.

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