Allianz says 38% of home claims are now weather-related

Allianz is urging Australians to be “weather ready” as around 38% of its claims for home, building & contents so far this year relate to severe weather events.

Catastrophe-season claim volumes at Allianz are up 81% this year from 2019 levels amid the La Nina weather pattern.

“There has been a significant increase in the volume of claims in relation to severe weather,” Allianz said today.

“Despite these serious events, we are seeing new attitudes like weather fatigue emerge, which is … putting preparedness on hold.”

An Allianz poll found only 19% had updated their insurance policy despite recent severe weather events.

Almost two-thirds of those surveyed were worried about severe weather predictions, yet 38% did not trust weather-forecast accuracy. Just 28% felt more aware and understood the potential impacts and the need to be informed as a third La Nina was declared.

Allianz found emerging “indifferent and passive attitudes” can affect judgment and approach when it comes to preparing homes for extreme weather. A quarter no longer tuned into the weather report, and two in five said preparing for a severe weather event was overwhelming – some stating looking out the window is more reliable than weather reports.

Allianz Australia National Manager Claims Technical and Business Operations Mark O’Connor says these attitudes have left Australians “more reactive than proactive” to extreme weather.

“It is important that Australians think proactively about getting prepared for weather events and to avoid waiting until they are directly affected,” he said.

Australians are now feeling “fatigued” by the frequent severe weather, with around a fifth believing it is inevitable and there’s no point in preparing for it.

With heavy rain along Australia’s east coast and increased bushfire risks in the west, Allianz is encouraging Australians to be weather ready with maintenance, have an emergency plan, and update their insurance.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says there have been almost 600,000 flood-related claims worth $8.8. billion since the drought broke in early 2020.

Floods at the start of 2022 caused insured losses above $5 billion, to match Sydney’s 1999 hailstorm as the costliest events in Australia’s insurance history. 1974’s Cyclone Tracy sits in second place at $5.04 billion losses in normalised terms, while 1967’s Cyclone Dinah occupies third place with losses of $4.69 billion.