The
Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has reported that more than 75% of claims lodged for damages due to Cyclone Debbie have been completed just six months after it lashed across Australia.
ICA figures showed that the cyclone resulted in 68,848 claims in Queensland and New South Wales, with insurance losses estimated at $1.473 billion.
ICA CEO Rob Whelan said the 75% closure rate was a great outcome, considering the scale of the catastrophe – which saw claims coming from an area three times larger than the UK – and the challenges of working in regional areas. He said the closure rate was running 12% ahead of similar disasters.
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“Insurers have now closed more than 75% of Cyclone Debbie claims,” he said. “This means more than 31,000 homes and businesses have been repaired or received settlements, 20,000 families have had their possessions replaced, and more than 4,500 motor vehicles have been fixed or new vehicles provided. Insurers have contracted hundreds of local builders and trades to work on property repairs, and are injecting more than $5 million each working day into local communities.”
The remaining claims are large-scale building repairs, with often complex scopes of work that take a longer time to finish, the ICA head said.
“However, some customers have raised concerns about the pace of rebuilding,” Whelan said. “The industry is listening and is committed to resolving these matters as swiftly as possible. The ICA and large insurers recently held one-on-one meetings with policyholders in the Whitsunday region, and this has helped to identify and escalate issues to the satisfaction of most customers.”
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