Perils closes books on 2022 Australian floods at A$6.5bn insured loss

Eastern Australian flooding in February and March 2022 rendered insured losses of A$6.527 billion, the Swiss-based nat cat counter Perils said in its fourth and final tally for the event.

The sum, covering property and motor lines, is up lightly from the A$6.292 billion prior update issued in September 2022, six months after the event. The estimate is based on loss data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market.

Motor losses contributed 9.5% of the total industry loss, while 90.5% were due to losses in property lines of business.

From February 20 to March 11, 2022, heavy rainfalls pounded the East Coast of Australia and led to major river- and surface-water flooding to render the largest loss on record for the Australian insurance industry. South-East Queensland and the north-eastern tip of New South Wales took the heaviest impact, along with New South Wales Central Coast including the surrounding areas of metropolitan Sydney.

The head of PERILS Asia-Pacific Darryl Pidcock commented: “The East Coast of Australia has experienced several major storm and flood events during the last three summers driven by persistent La Nina conditions. Whilst current forecasts indicate this will weaken to more normal levels, La Nina has caused the largest industry event loss in Australian history. Given the scale and geographic extent of the losses, our detailed loss and industry exposure data will contribute to industry efforts to manage flood risk and help bolster the resilience of the Australian economy and society to natural catastrophes.”

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