The hailstorms that hit South East Queensland on October 31, also known as the “South East Queensland Halloween Hailstorms,” have resulted in insured property and motor market loss of AU$1,231 million, according to PERILS' initial loss estimate.
The figure, which was based on loss data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market, covers the property and motor hull lines of business.
On October 31, severe thunderstorms hit South East Queensland and the surrounding areas of Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast. The corridor from Amberley through to the northern suburbs of Logan near Brisbane took the most significant hit, with hail recorded up to 14cm in diameter. The Gympie area also recorded giant hail up to 7cm in diameter.
Aside from hail, damaging wind gusts occurred from Redcliffe to Kingston near Brisbane, with gusts over 110km/h recorded around Moreton Bay region.
“This is the third hailstorm event in Australia reported by PERILS for 2020, with total industry losses over AU$3,640 million across the respective hail events. The South East Queensland Halloween Hailstorms were a particularly noteworthy event given the sheer size of the hailstones in some areas and its relatively early occurrence in the 2020/21 summer season,” said Darryl Pidcock, the head of PERILS Asia-Pacific.
“It is becoming increasingly important to deliver industry loss information and physical intensity data to the market given the pressures on the industry and the ever more extreme nature of events. PERILS is continuing its close collaboration with the industry in this endeavour.”
PERILS will release an update of the estimate of the property market loss from the Halloween Hailstorms on January 25.
