Six months after Cyclone Debbie struck the Queensland coast, 75% of claims lodged for the cyclone’s insured losses, estimated to reach $1.47 billion, have been settled, according to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).
ICA figures show households and businesses in Queensland and New South Wales lodged 68,848 Debbie-related claims, with insurance losses estimated at $1.47 billion.
Insurance Council Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Rob Whelan, said; “Insurers have now closed more than 75 per cent of Cyclone Debbie claims.
“This means more than 31,000 homes and businesses have been repaired or received settlements, 20,000 families have had their possessions replaced, and more than 4500 motor vehicles have been fixed or new vehicles provided.
“Insurers have contracted hundreds of local builders and trades to work on property repairs, and are injecting more than $5 million each working day into local communities.”
Most of the remaining claims are large-scale building repairs, with often complex scopes of work which take longer to finish.
Whelan said the closure rate for claims was running 12% ahead of similar disasters, “however, some customers have raised concerns about the pace of rebuilding. The industry is listening and is committed to resolving these matters as swiftly as possible.
“The ICA and large insurers recently held one-on-one meetings with policyholders in the Whitsunday region, and this has helped to identify and escalate issues to the satisfaction of most customers.
“The insurance industry continues to learn from its disaster recovery response, and seeks to improve its processes to provide the help its customers deserve,” said Whelan.
PERILS recently announced that its insured loss estimate for cyclone Debbie has increased to AUD1.66 billion (US$1.3bn), as a result of the availability of more detailed data available at postcode level for the first time.
