Australia hit by severe storms and hail “significant event”, triggers more flooding

Parts of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria have been struck by severe thunderstorms, convective weather and hail over the Christmas period, resulting in flooding and property damage, after which the Insurance Council has declared a “Significant Event.”

The storms and floods are now confirmed to have killed 10 people, while weather forecasts suggest more severe weather for the eastern side of Australia today, with thunderstorms and large hail expected.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) declared a “Significant Event” for regions of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria after the severe storms that struck between 23rd December and Boxing Day.

As a result, the Insurance Council’s preliminary extreme weather processes have been activated, meaning it will now assess and monitor the insurance claims impact of the events.

The storms drove flash floods, hailstorms and damaging winds into parts of the country and as of 10am local time today, insurers in Australia have already received more than 7,500 claims related to the storms across the three states.

ICA COO Kylie Macfarlane said, “The insurance industry has made this Significant Event declaration to activate services and support for affected homeowners, motorists and businesses and reassure them that their insurer is there to help.

“It’s too early to understand the full extent of the damage in affected areas and to estimate the insurance damage bill, however we know there has been a significant number of homes and vehicles damaged as a result of the storms that hit from 23 December to Boxing Day.

“As more extreme weather is expected in the coming days, insurers’ priority is community safety. We strongly encourage all those impacted to put their safety first and adhere to evacuations orders.”

Insurer Suncorp said that between 23rd and 27th of December it has received more than 3,000 home and motor claims across Queensland, New South Wales, ACT and Victoria.

Suncorp Group’s Executive General Manager of Home Claims Customers, Alli Smith said, “These storms have been destructive with cyclone level winds, large hail and heavy rainfall causing a lot of damage to some parts of the east coast.

“The most impacted suburbs have been Rutherford in the Newcastle region, Runaway Bay and Coomera on the Gold Coast, Orange in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, and Gatton in the Darling Downs of Queensland.”

The severe weather comes on the heels of the impacts of cyclone Jasper and its remnants that caused severe floods in Queensland, which are expected to drive insurance market losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars.