Tropical cyclone Seroja insured losses reach A$394m

The insured losses caused by tropical cyclone Seroja, which hit Western Australia in April, have reached A$394 million ($290 million) in a revised estimate by  PERILS, the Zurich-based catastrophe insurance data provider.

The updated industry loss figure is according to data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market, and is primarily composed of property losses which represent 98.6 percent of the total industry loss, while motor losses represent 1.4 percent.

This compares to the figure of A$434 million issued by PERILS three months after the event.

Tropical Cyclone Seroja made landfall just south of the town of Kalbarri on April 11, 2021. It affected an area of approximately 800km of the Mid-West region coastline with strong gusts extending from the coastline inland as the cyclone continued a south-south-easterly track into the morning of April 12. The town of Kalbarri was most affected by the winds with reported gusts up to 170km/h.

PERILS said most of the damage from Tropical Cyclone Seroja resulted from the strong winds with only moderate rainfall. It was the largest event for Western Australia since the Perth Hailstorms of 2010 and the largest cyclone event since Cyclone Joan (1975), Alby (1978), and Hazel (1979).

Darryl Pidcock, head of PERILS Asia-Pacific, commented: “As a recent research project by Geoscience Australia and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services showed, the loss impact of Cyclone Seroja would have been far greater had the storm crossed further south and made a direct hit on the town of Geraldton. As such Seroja serves as a warning that devastating tropical cyclones can happen in the northwest of the state of Western Australia. Today’s release of our industry loss footprint therefore provides additional insight into our understanding of cyclone risk in this remote region of Australia.”

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