'Unprecedented' summer drives up claims, worry levels

Home claims were up sharply this summer even before the flood catastrophe, and amid an unprecedented season of extreme weather Australians are increasingly worried about disaster trends, NRMA Insurance says.

The Wild Weather Tracker report says home claims this summer rose 53% compared to a year earlier, prior to the devastating recent flood impacts. More than two-thirds of the claims nationally were caused by severe weather, the NRMA Insurance data shows.

The IAG brand’s quarterly tracker monitors claims in communities across NSW, Queensland and the ACT and, for the first time, the latest report has expanded to include SA and WA.

Queensland set a record for summer wild weather home claims, while nationally NRMA Insurance also received a record number of summer flood claims, for both home and car damage.

Research also finds 72% of people are worried natural disasters are becoming more frequent and severe, while 78% believe climate change is making severe weather worse.

A survey of 3500 people, conducted in February before the floods, found 39% of respondents don’t feel prepared to respond in the event of wild weather or a natural disaster, and only 38% think their Federal MP is doing enough to protect their community from the impacts of climate change and severe weather.

NRMA Insurance says it has received more than 24,000 claims since the catastrophic storms in February and March but the full impact is still being determined and will be outlined in the autumn edition of the tracker in June.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) said today insurers have received 161,853 claims, a 1.6% increase on yesterday’s figures, and losses are now estimated at $2.427 billion.

NRMA Insurance reiterates its call for governments to urgently allocate greater investment to disaster mitigation projects.

“We welcome recent progress in this area, in particular the Queensland Government’s Resilient Residential Recovery package, but we need greater cooperation across all levels of government to get these projects happening in vulnerable communities across the country,” NRMA Insurance Group Executive Julie Batch said.

“I recently spent time in Lismore and spoke with devastated residents trying to rebuild their lives after facing multiple disasters. Now is the time to get the necessary funding into communities and allow mitigation projects to get underway.”

NRMA Insurance meteorologist Bruce Buckley has warned autumn is likely to remain wet, with rainfall through April to August expected to be above median for large parts of Australia, even though a La Nina may technically return to neutral conditions.

Volatile weather risks remain until mid-April from coastal tropical cyclone, monsoon and hybrid low impacts, potentially bringing more rain to saturated regions.

“The most consistent periods of heavy rain look likely to affect a fairly large area over southeast Queensland, central and eastern NSW, and the east of Victoria,” Dr Buckley says. “Severe thunderstorms and flash floods will be possible in these areas, with some pockets of large hail possible.”