PERILS expects losses of $823m from Tropical Storm Debbie

The insured property market loss for Tropical Storm Debbie, the strongest tropical cyclone in the Australian region since Cyclone Quang in 2015, is estimated at A$1.12bn ($823 million), according to PERILS.

Debbie affected the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales from 28 March 2017 until the early part of April, and caused significant wind and flood damage across the area.

The strongest gust was recorded on Hamilton Island at 263 kilometres per hour. However, storm surge was moderate, largely due to the fact the landfall occurred between low and high tide.

Rainfall reached exceptional levels and led to surface water and river flooding which affected many communities in Southeast Queensland and Northeast South Wales.

An updated estimate of the Debbie property market loss will be made available on 28 June 2017, three months after the event start date.

“Cyclone Debbie is the first loss event captured by PERILS in Australia and comes only half a year after the initial release of the PERILS Industry Exposure Database for the territory,” said Darryl Pidcock, head of PERILS Asia Pacific. “Debbie clearly exceeds our property market loss reporting threshold of AUD 500m and made a significant impact on the insurance and reinsurance industry. As such, the event underpins the need for reliable natural catastrophe insurance data for Australia, which PERILS strives to provide.”

Eduard Held, head of products at PERILS, added: “PERILS’ second loss report will be issued on 28 June and will include an update of the country-wide market loss and the number of affected polices. Subsequent loss reports will provide loss data at four-digit postcode level and by property lines of business. This will help to further improve the industry’s understanding of Australian tropical cyclone risk and ultimately facilitate its tradability.”

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