Ominous trend: flood claims rise sharply as 'rain bomb' tracks south

Insurers have received 31,000 claims in relation to devastating flooding in Queensland and NSW, with forecasters warning that the weather system is now tracking south.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says claims numbers have more than doubled since yesterday, and released a graph (published at the bottom of this story) comparing the progress of claims to previous events such as last year’s floods in the same states.

The Bureau of Meteorology warns that parts of Sydney could be affected as the extreme weather moves down the coastline.

“It is too soon to provide an estimate of claims costs given the event is still unfolding and claims are still being reported,” ICA said today.

“Given the scale of the extreme weather event insurers are closely monitoring the availability of temporary accommodation for displaced residents.”

ICA says it continues to engage with local governments and the Queensland, NSW and Federal governments “to ensure any issues identified can be managed immediately”.

ICA declared an insurance catastrophe to enable claims from the event to be prioritised.

“This is still a large-scale unfolding event across two states with significant increases in claim numbers, and we expect this to continue to climb as people are allowed to return to their homes and businesses,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

“Insurers are already on-the-ground helping with claims where it is safe to do so.

“I want to be clear that following the 2011 Brisbane floods insurance policies now have standard flood definitions, and if policyholders have selected that cover this will include water that is released from a dam.”

Today Labor Leader Anthony Albanese criticised the Federal Government for not spending billions of dollars on resilience projects. He told radio station B105 Brisbane that $4 billion in the Emergency Response Fund should have been used.

“The whole idea was that you could set up a fund and draw down $200 million each year,” he said.

“That’s what we will do with our Disaster Ready Fund. We need to make sure that we prepare for disasters in advance and spend the money that’s been allocated. It’s beyond my comprehension how it can just be sitting there and not being used.”