Three-year weather bill reaches AUD12.3 billion

New data released by the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has shown that the insurance bill for storms and floods since January 2020 has topped AUD12.3 billion.

According to a statement by the ICA, every eastern state has been significantly impacted by flooding over the last three years, while South Australia and Western Australia have been hit by storms and cyclone activity over that period.

Since January 2020 almost 788,000 claims related to floods and storms declared Insurance Catastrophes or Significant Events have been received by insurers, meaning that in just three years one in 25 adult Australians has made an insurance claim because of this wild and wet weather.

The cost of this year’s February-March floods has now reached more than AUD5.65 billion, surpassing the 1999 Sydney hailstorm in cost and making it the most expensive natural disaster in Australia’s history.

The February-March floods have seen more than 237,000 claims lodged, and insurers have now paid out AUD3.54 billion and closed 69 percent of claims from this event.

The July severe weather that inundated parts of western Sydney and surrounds has resulted in almost 22,000 claims at a cost of AUD244 million.

The mid-October storms and floods that cut across Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales have generated more than 17,200 claims with estimated insured losses of AUD477 million.

The flooding impacting the Central West of New South Wales has so far resulted in nearly 3,600 claims lodged. With insurers currently deployed and assisting affected communities, an estimate of the extent of the damage bill is still being determined.