Insurance Catastrophe declared in SA, Vic and Tas for severe storms

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared an Insurance Catastrophe for parts of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania impacted by significant hail, rain, and strong winds last week.

ICA CEO Andrew Hall said, “Thousands of claims have now been lodged by South Australian, Victorian, and Tasmanian policyholders. Unfortunately, ongoing supply chain and labour issues in the building sector may lead to delays in repairs and rebuilds. 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.”

Insurers have received almost 24,000 claims from South Australian policyholders, however, this number is expected to rise over coming days. Approximately two-thirds of claims received so far are for motor vehicle damage. Victorian policyholders have lodged almost 12,000 claims over the past three days, with most claims for home property damage, including from fallen trees. Around 100 claims have been received from policyholders in Tasmania.

“We are working with state governments to ensure these insurance responders are able to 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.”

Insurers are advising that given the timing of last week’s storms it is likely many impacted properties will not be repaired in time for Christmas. Apart from the time of year, repairs have also been impacted by factors including a shortage of tradespeople, a shortage of goods, and COVID border restrictions impacting the movement of assessors and tradespeople around the country.