Australian insurers have received 153,769 claims related to the flooding in the country’s Queensland and New South Wales areas, a number that the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has said has increased by 2% since Friday.
The ICA also said that the current estimated cost of claims is now $2.307bn. The numbers provide a modest increase from the 150,774 claims that the ICA reported last week.
That number was itself an increase from 135,000 that the ICA reported on 14 March when it first estimated that costs had risen above $2bn. Those figures showed a 7.3% increase in the total number of claims, suggesting that the latest figures indicate a slowdown in claims made.
Reportedly, the floods in Queensland account for 85,000 claims with an estimated cost of $1.285bn.
It was announced last week that the Australian government had decided to tap its Emergency Response Fund, which will see $150m distributed to the Queensland and New South Wales areas. As we reported, the Queensland and New South Wales governments will receive $75m each, which will help to assist in immediate disaster recovery, as well as providing much-needed funding for future disaster risk mitigation and resilience initiatives.
In other news, the ICA said that there are now 33,000 claims lodged for damage from the June 2021 storms and flood, with losses estimated at $292m. These figures were put out as part of an announcement that the ICA would host will host virtual one-on-one consultations for Gippsland and Yarra Ranges policyholders affected by the June 2021 severe weather event.
