The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has extended the insurance catastrophe declared last week for some parts of Southern Australia (SA) to include the states of Victoria and Tasmania.
Last week, parts of SA were devastated by significant hail, rain, and strong winds – resulting in loss of power in some areas. With Victoria and Tasmania affected by the same storm, the ICA decided to extend the declared insurance catastrophe to these states.
The ICA's insurance catastrophe declaration serves to escalate and prioritise the insurance industry's response for affected policyholders.
“Insurers are currently utilising local assessors and tradespeople to support the claims process; however, we anticipate the need to deploy up to 80 specialist assessment and recovery personnel from other states,” said ICA CEO Andrew Hall.
As of 7:30am last Friday, Victoria's State Emergency Service reportedly received over 950 calls for help, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, as of November 01, Victorian policyholders lodged nearly 12,000 claims, with most claims for home property damage, including from fallen trees. In Tasmania, insurers received around 100 claims from policyholders.
Given the timing of last week's storms, insurers reminded customers that many impacted properties might be repaired in time for Christmas.
Apart from the time of year, repairs have also been impacted by a shortage of tradespeople, a shortage of goods, and COVID-19 border restrictions impacting the movement of assessors and tradespeople around the country.
The ICA is working with state governments to ensure that insurance disaster responders can safely travel across borders and support customers.
“With border restrictions still in place, the ICA is calling on state and federal governments to urgently agree to a nationally consistent approach to the movement of fully vaccinated insurance disaster responders across state borders,” Hall said.
“Thousands of properties in Victoria have experienced power outages, and customers who have sustained extended power outages may be able to claim for food spoilage.”
