At least 500 homes have been flooded in southeast Australia after the region was inundated with heavy rain yesterday, resulting in evacuations across three states.
Rivers across New South Wales and Victoria, as well as the island state of Tasmania, are rising dangerously after some areas received four times their average rainfall for October in just 24 hours.
In addition to damaging homes, the flooding has submerged roads, caused widespread disruption and cut power to 3,000 houses and businesses.
The southeast of Australia already faced catastrophic flooding earlier this year over February and March, which are estimated to have cost the re/insurance industry $6.29 billion, according to the latest data from the ICA.
At this level, the flooding represents the largest insured catastrophe loss ever experienced in Australia.
And the country was subject to another spate of flooding in July, when an East coast low brought 350mm of rain to parts of Sydney, and caused numerous rivers to reach flood stage.
Many communities will still be recovering from these earlier events, so this latest round of flooding will be particularly unwelcome to residents in this part of the country.
And for re/insurers too, the market will be concerned about the mounting level of losses for this peril, meaning there could be implications for pricing and coverage in this part of Australia.
