Insurers to visit flood-impacted communities in northern NSW and Brisbane

The ICA and insurers will be meeting in-person with flood-impacted customers in Brisbane and northern NSW communities to assist them with their insurance claims.

This comes as a follow-up to the meetings previously organised by the ICA and insurers in May and September, aiming to provide further opportunities for policyholders to discuss how their claim has since progressed and to work through any outstanding issues.

According to the ICA, more than 62 per cent of the 236,400 claims resulting from the severe weather and flooding events earlier this year have now been finalised.

The cost of this year’s floods across south-east Queensland and northern NSW has so far reached $5.56 billion. This now equals the Eastern Sydney Hailstorm in 1999 as the costliest disaster in Australia’s history.

The insurer meetings will take place from 23 – 30 November across a number of locations, from 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

Policyholders interested in attending the in-person meetings are required to book an individual 30 minute consultation time at insurancecouncil.com.au/bookings.

Disaster assistance extends to further LGAs in New South Wales and Victoria

Disaster assistance has been extended to a further four local government areas (LGAs) in NSW and another five LGAs in Victoria, as flooding continues to impact both states.

This amounts to a total of 70 LGAs in NSW and 26 LGAs in Victoria which now have access to disaster assistance.

The assistance is provided through the jointly-funded Commonwealth-State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA), and will include:

• individual assistance for immediate essential needs (e.g. food, clothing, temporary housing), essential household contents replacement and repair, and structural repairs or replacement
• storm and flood clean-up assistance for households, businesses, primary producers and local councils
• concessional interest rate loans for small businesses, not-for-profit organisations and primary producers.

For the latest updates on disaster assistance, visit Disasterassist.gov.au.