The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) today said insurers have received almost 31,000 claims related to the ongoing flood emergency in South-East Queensland and the New South Wales coast.
This is a 107 per cent increase on yesterday’s claims count and is a much more significant rise at this point than was seen following last year’s floods in New South Wales and South-East Queensland (see graph over).
It is too soon to provide an estimate of claims costs given the event is still unfolding and claims are still being reported.
Given the scale of the extreme weather event insurers are closely monitoring the availability of temporary accommodation for displaced residents.
The ICA continues to engage with local governments and the Queensland, New South Wales and Federal Governments to ensure any issues identified can be managed immediately.
The ICA declared an Insurance Catastrophe for South-East Queensland on Saturday, and yesterday extended that declaration to include those areas of New South Wales impacted by the weather event that is now making its way down the coast.
Under the ICA’s Catastrophe declaration:
- Claims from affected policyholders are given priority by insurers
- Claims are triaged to direct urgent assistance to the worst-affected property owners
- An industry taskforce has been established to identify and address issues arising from this extreme weather event
- ICA representatives will be mobilised to work with local agencies and services and affected policyholders as soon as emergency services say it is safe to do so
- Insurers will mobilise disaster response specialists to assist affected customers with claims and assessments as soon as emergency services say it is safe to do so
Quote attributable to Andrew Hall, CEO, Insurance Council of Australia:
