Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred claims swell to almost 45,000

By Ryan Hewlett

March 13 - (The Insurer) - Insurers have received nearly 45,000 insurance claims from policyholders across southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales following ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

As of midday local time on March 13, insurers had received 44,795 claims, an increase of more than 30.7% from the 34,248 reported a day earlier.

Of this total, 92.6% of claims have been lodged by policyholders in Queensland. The bulk of total claims across Queensland and New South Wales relate to home insurance (40,940), while motor and commercial claims total 1,972 and 1,883, respectively.

Insurers are on the ground meeting affected policyholders in Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Ballina and Tweed Heads in New South Wales, and across Redlands, Hervey Bay, Logan, Brisbane and the Gold Coast in Queensland.

ICA CEO Andrew Hall said that while the devastation caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred “wasn’t as significant as predicted”, it will take a prolonged period of time before communities recover.

“We’re continuing our engagement with all levels of government and response agencies and this will remain throughout the region’s recovery process,” he said.

The ICA noted that it is currently too early to determine the impact from the cyclone or accurately estimate what the total damage bill will be.

The last cyclone to cause significant damage in Australia was 2023’s Tropical Cyclone Jasper, which cost A$409 million from around 10,500 claims. The costliest cyclone to hit the country was 1974's Cyclone Tracy, which cost A$7.4 billion normalised to 2023 values.

The floods of early 2022 remain the costliest insured event in Australia’s history with A$6.4 billion in insured losses across more than 245,000 claims.