The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared two Significant Events for communities impacted by severe rainfall and flooding across the Northern Territory and Queensland, moving to prioritise the industry’s response as dangerous conditions continue. The declarations cover SE263 for Northern Territory flooding, including Katherine and surrounding regions, and SE264 for Queensland flooding, including the Bundaberg region and Burnett River catchment.
“These events are another reminder that all levels of government must invest in resilience before disaster strikes, not just recovery after the damage is done," said the ICA's CEO, Andrew Hall (pictured) in a media release this morning.
Insurers have started receiving claims across both affected regions, with numbers expected to continue rising in the coming days, although it is too early to estimate the insurance damage bill. The ICA said the immediate priority is the safety of communities dealing with serious and fast-moving flood events across both jurisdictions.
The ICA said the industry stands ready to support customers and is urging anyone with property damage or disruption to lodge a claim when it is safe to do so, even if they are unsure of their coverage or do not yet know the full extent of the damage.
A Significant Event declaration is designed to escalate and prioritise the insurance industry’s response for affected policyholders. Under that process, catastrophe claims data collection, analysis and reporting processes are activated in consultation with insurers, while real-time tracking of claims volumes, estimated losses and emerging trends is established across the affected regions.
The declaration also triggers engagement with federal, state and territory governments, emergency services and recovery agencies, while on-the-ground coordination is used to ensure the full scope of community impacts is understood and the industry response is mobilised to help impacted residents. Affected residents will also be connected with available support and assistance.
The ICA said it would continue working with governments as communities recover and would provide claims updates as more information becomes available.
Hall said communities in the Northern Territory and along the Queensland coast have long lived with flood risk, but warned the gap between what has been built to protect them and what is needed remains far too wide. That makes these declarations an early signal that insurers likely expect a prolonged and closely watched recovery effort across two flood-hit regions, with claims, losses and community needs likely to become clearer only as waters fall and assessments begin.
In Queensland, the Burnett River at Bundaberg was sitting around its peak of 7.4 metres on Wednesday, with several hundred properties inside the projected flood extent and formal impact assessments beginning as waters start to recede. In the Northern Territory, the government said temporary pop-up schools opened on Wednesday to help Katherine families recover after the flooding, while ABC reported major flood risks were still affecting remote communities including Daly River and Beswick even as Katherine moved into clean-up mode.
