The ICA’s second annual Insurance Catastrophe Resilience Report uses insurer data and insights to review the last 12 months of extreme weather events and advocate for changes to reduce the impact of future events.
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The ICA’s second annual Insurance Catastrophe Resilience Report uses insurer data and insights to review the last 12 months of extreme weather events and advocate for changes to reduce the impact of future events.
Insurance Catastrophe declared for Victoria, NSW and Tasmania
Insurance Catastrophe declared for Victoria, NSW and Tasmania
News release
Wednesday, 19 October 2022
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has today escalated its significant event declaration to an Insurance Catastrophe for regions of Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales impacted by severe weather and flooding that has occurred since 12 October.
This declaration reflects the growing severity of the floods and the forecasted further extreme weather.
Floodwaters are expected to peak across three river systems in Victoria today: the Murray, the Goulburn and Campaspe, putting thousands of homes and businesses at risk.
According to forecasters, areas in northern Tasmania and in western New South Wales are also at risk of further flooding in the coming days.
The ICA’s Catastrophe declaration serves to escalate and prioritise the insurance industry’s response for affected policyholders.
Under the Catastrophe declaration:
- Claims from affected policyholders will be given priority by insurers
- Claims will be triaged to direct urgent assistance to the worst-affected property owners
- 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
- An industry taskforce has been established to identify and address issues arising from this catastrophe
- The insurance industry has made this Catastrophe Declaration to activate services and support for affected homeowners and businesses and reassure them that their insurer is there to help.
The impact of the flooding has been felt most significantly in Victoria however the declaration covers all claims related to the ongoing severe weather and flooding across the three impacted states.
As of today, insurers had received 6,350 claims relating to the floods across Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania.
Comment attributable to Andrew Hall, CEO Insurance Council of Australia:
It has been a week since the severe weather hit the south-eastern states of Australia and the severity of that rainfall continues to impact river systems which are now beyond capacity, the ground is soaked and there is nowhere for the flood waters to go.
Communities are rallying together to support each other, and insurers stand ready to support them through the oncoming recovery period.
Right now, community safety remains a priority, and we strongly encourage anyone in the impacted areas to listen to emergency services, take shelter where it is safe to do so and to not put themselves or others at risk.
More than half of $5.4b East Coast Flood claims now closed
More than half of $5.4b East Coast Flood claims now closed
News release
Friday, 30 September 2022
The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) today released new data showing more than half of insurance claims related to the February and March floods have been closed.
The latest figures reveal a 10 per cent increase from last month in claims closed, with $2.81 billion or 54 per cent of all claims now finalised for those customers impacted by Australia’s costliest flood.
Insured losses have increased slightly from last month to $5.45 billion from about 234,000 claims.
The time required to settle or resolve a claim depends on the type of claim, the assessment and analysis that’s required to make a claim decision, and the complexity of the repair or settlement. The more complex the analysis, assessment and rebuild required, the longer a claim will take to process.
Claims closure times are being impacted by the high volume of claims, a shortage of experts required to assess and manage flood claims, building labour and materials constraints, and the complexity of recovery and resilience programs delivered by both the Queensland and New South Wales governments.
The data update follows the release of the Insurance Council’s Insurance Catastrophe Resilience Report 2021-22 and research from the McKell Institute, which found extreme weather events over the past 12 months cost every Australian household an average of $1,532.
McKell’s The Cost of Extreme Weather report shows that over the last 10 years the average annual household cost of extreme weather has been $888, but that this figure is expected to jump to more than $2,500 a year by 2050.
Comment attributable to Andrew Hall, CEO, Insurance Council of Australia:
Insurers have been working hard to see claims settled and closed following the devastating February and March East Coast Floods, and we are confident this momentum will continue leading into summer.
While we remain concerned that summer forecasts a continuation of La Niña conditions, insurers are geared up and working through the current claims as quickly as possible.
We encourage Queensland, New South Wales and the Federal Government to continue to expedite their build back and buy back programs as soon as possible to give those communities certainty.
Our recent reports and research show that these events are becoming increasingly costly for Australian households, and clearly demonstrate the impact of worsening extreme weather.
To ensure Australians continue to have access to affordable insurance protection, we must increase investment in the resilience of our built and natural environments, and, in parallel, address the underlying cause of more severe weather events.
