Perils unveils insured loss estimate for NSW, Queensland floods

Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider  Perils has disclosed its second industry loss estimate for the New South Wales and Queensland floods, which occurred from March 18 to 24 this year.

The second estimate of the insurance market loss is A$916 million ($693.4 million), including losses in the property and motor hull lines of business. The estimate is based on loss data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market.

This compares to the initial loss estimate of A$1,055 million which was issued by Perils in May.

The East Coast of Australia experienced an extreme period of rainfall in March which resulted in major river and surface water flooding. The rainfall was the result of a blocking high pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a low-pressure system off north-west Australia which fed large volumes of moist tropical air into eastern Australia.

The areas most affected were the Mid North Coast, and the Hunter and Greater Sydney regions. In addition, adjacent parts of South-East Queensland and Eastern Victoria were also affected by storm and flood damage.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.