PERILS, the Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider, has disclosed its third industry loss estimate for the Australia East Coast Severe Convective Storms (SCS) of late October 2025, placing the loss at AUD 1.502 billion.
The event impacted the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria between 26th October and 1st November 2025.
Eastern Australia experienced a prolonged period of severe convective storm activity, with the greater Brisbane area in South East Queensland the hardest hit on 26th October. South East Queensland and New South Wales were respectively impacted by more moderate storm activity in the following days, causing additional damage.
PERILS’ third industry loss estimate of AUD 1.502 billion is slightly lower than its previous estimate of AUD 1.512 billion issued three months after the event, and above its initial estimate of AUD 1.108 billion issued six weeks after the event.
The loss data provides a breakdown of property and motor hull losses by postcode, further divided into residential and commercial lines.
Personal lines property losses account for 61% of the total, while commercial lines property losses represent 25% and motor losses 14%. The event primarily affected Queensland (94% of the total industry loss) and New South Wales (5%).
PERILS will provide an updated loss estimate for the event on 2nd November 2026, twelve months after the event end date.
Darryl Pidcock, Head of Asia Pacific & Cyber at PERILS, commented, “This is the first of two major Severe Convective Storms that impacted this region within a month, generating over AUD 4 billion in insured losses. This report, released six months after the event, includes very detailed hail intensity information at a postcode level. Combining the physical intensities with PERILS Industry Exposure data provides a wealth of information and insights regarding vulnerabilities across the different lines of business enabling a more comprehensive understanding of the impacts of Severe Convective Storms in these exposed regions.”
