The insurance industry has moved to emergency footing following a severe weather event that battered South East Queensland over the weekend, with the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) declaring an Insurance Catastrophe (CAT 255) for the damaging hail and powerful winds that struck between 23-24 November.
Kylie Macfarlane, ICA deputy CEO, emphasised that safety remains the priority: "Insurers' first priority is community safety, and so we strongly encourage all those impacted by these severe storms to ensure they do not undertake any activity themselves that may put their safety at risk."
Already, insurers have fielded more than 16,000 claims across more than 140 postcodes. The catastrophe declaration will trigger the industry's priority response protocol, ensuring claims are escalated and triaged to direct urgent assistance to the worst-impacted property owners. ICA representatives will be deployed to work with local agencies and affected policyholders, while insurers mobilise disaster response specialists for claims assessment and support.
The scale of the destruction was extensive. Severe thunderstorm warnings blanketed the region from the New South Wales border to the Sunshine Coast and the Wide Bay as giant hailstones, destructive winds and lightning lashed the landscape on Monday afternoon. The Bureau of Meteorology recorded 11-centimetre hailstones at Ferny Hills in the Moreton Bay region and Manly on Brisbane's bayside around 3:30pm, with smaller but still damaging hail measuring 5.5 to 6 centimetres recorded at Tamrookum. Residents captured images of ice balls the size of cricket balls in their hands across the Logan suburb of Cornubia as the storm intensified.
Wind gusts proved equally devastating. Brisbane Airport recorded a 107-kilometre per hour gust while Maroochydore experienced 100kph gusts, tearing trees from their roots and ripping roofs from homes. On Bribie Island, an entire roof was peeled from a house, while at Coolum on the Sunshine Coast, resident Neil McIntosh told ABC News that he narrowly escaped catastrophe as a tree toppled outside his home seconds before he was about to move his ute. "Luckily nobody was injured, I could have been I think if I'd been moving the car, but… lucky, very lucky," he said.
The storm's electrical fury was extraordinary: Energex recorded approximately 525,000 lightning strikes in a single afternoon—more than double the 250,000 strikes recorded across the entire previous day. Justin Coomber from Energex told ABC Radio Brisbane the strikes pointed to significant damage ahead, urging residents to report downed powerlines they encountered. More than 600 powerlines fell across the region, leaving over 150,000 customers without electricity, with Moreton Bay, Ipswich and the Sunshine Coast regions most severely affected. The State Emergency Service fielded 1,000 calls for help, while the airport halted all flights for approximately one hour as the storm passed overhead.
Macfarlane acknowledged that while it remains too early to estimate the insurance damage bill, claims numbers are expected to rise as power returns and residents assess the full extent of damage. She advised impacted policyholders to lodge claims as soon as possible, even before knowing the complete damage picture, noting that online portals offer the quickest path to initiating the claims process.
The catastrophe arrives amid a pattern of recent widespread rainfall and storm activity across Queensland's southeast, compounding pressure on insurers already processing claims from previous events. With further rain predicted in coming days, the ICA is urging residents to remain vigilant and heed emergency services advice.
An industry taskforce has been established to identify and address issues emerging from this catastrophe, while insurers continue monitoring claims from Tropical Cyclone Fina affecting the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Policyholders can find information about cleanup and the claims process on the ICA website.
