PERILS, which provides industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has released its second industry loss report for the costliest flood in Australian history: the catastrophic flooding in southeast Queensland and Northern New South Wales (NSW) in February and March 2022.
According to insurance loss data PERILS collected from Australian insurers, the catastrophic flooding in Queensland and NSW caused a $4,895 million insurance market loss, a jump from the initial estimate of A$3,991 million. The data includes losses from the property and motor hull lines of business.
PERILS Asia-Pacific head Darryl Pidcock said the latest results reflect the significant challenges facing the insurance industry, particularly due to the complexity and volume of insurance claims related to the Queensland and NSW flooding.
“A key driver is claims inflation due to rising labour and supply costs, which has become a critical issue for the industry,” Pidcock added.
After the initial loss estimate, PERILS adjusted the event loss period to February 20 to March 11 to better reflect the range of loss periods that affected insurers applied to the extreme weather event, as there is no common market standard applied to the event definition.
The devastating flooding in Queensland and NSW occurred due to an extended period of heavy rainfall along the east coast of Australia, causing major river and surface water flooding.
Flood-impacted individuals, businesses, and communities are still recovering from the impacts of the flood, with the insurance industry supporting affected customers. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), for example, is holding townhalls for flood-impacted policyholders from June 13 to 27 in nine locations in Queensland. RACQ, which confirmed in May that it had already settled over 80% of motor claims related to the event, joined the ICA townhalls to assist its policyholders.
Meanwhile, PERILS said it will release its third insurance loss estimate related to the Queensland-NSW flooding, which will include a detailed footprint breaking down industry losses into postcode areas and lines of business, on September 11, six months after the event's end date.
