No reprieve: wild winter weather drives up claims

The past winter was the worst for home and motor claims caused by wild weather since 2016 and damaging conditions look set to persist into spring and summer, NRMA Insurance says.

“Following a devastating start to the year, winter 2022 saw wild weather continue to sweep across Australia,” EGM Direct Claims Luke Gallagher said.

“Record rainfall and ongoing flooding impacted many parts of New South Wales and Queensland, with Western Australia and some parts of South Australia affected by damaging winds.”

The NRMA Insurance Wild Weather Tracker shows the June-August conditions generated 26,515 claims.

Some 62% of all winter home claims and a quarter of motor claims were caused by weather, 13 percentage points above the average for the period for home, according to the analysis of the insurer’s data.

The destructive conditions included an East Coast Low in early July that brought heavy rain and flooding to the NSW Hawkesbury-Nepean and Mid-North Coast regions, while multiple bursts of damaging winds struck southwest WA at the start of August.

NRMA Insurance warns that the combination of a La Nina, officially declared by the Bureau of Meteorology this week, and a negative Indian Ocean Dipole increases the likelihood of a much wetter than average spring across the eastern states and through SA.

“This is a rare coincidence of climate drivers that favour bursts of very heavy rainfall capable of producing flash and river flooding through spring and early summer,” Meteorologist Bruce Buckley said.

“These conditions are expected to produce a higher risk of hailstorms, particularly in southeast Queensland and western and north eastern New South Wales in spring through to early summer.”

Research conducted as part of the report shows that despite increasing weather severity concerns, only 37% of 3500 people surveyed in Queensland, NSW, the ACT, SA and WA took steps in the past three months to prepare their homes. That was the lowest level since NRMA Insurance began quarterly research in May last year.

Reasons for not taking action included that people believed their suburb wouldn’t be affected (42%), they didn’t know where to start (27%) and that it was difficult to find the time (22%). Queensland residents were the most likely to have taken steps to prepare.

Mr Gallagher says regularly clearing gutters and downpipes is one of the best things people can do to reduce the risk of damage. The insurer also encourages people to secure outdoor items.

“As individuals, we are not powerless. As we head into a wet spring and another storm season, we are encouraging Australians to take simple yet effective steps to prepare for wild weather,” he said.