PERILS has increased its industry loss estimate for the late-November 2025 Severe Convective Storms (SCS) in Queensland and New South Wales to $2.95 billion.
The independent Zurich-based catastrophe data provider now places insured losses from the event period of Nov. 21 to 27, 2025, at $2.95 billion, compared with an initial estimate of $2.663 billion released on Jan. 8, 2026, six weeks after the event end date. The figure relates to losses from the property and motor hull classes of business and is based on data supplied by affected insurers. PERILS will issue an updated industry loss footprint on May 27, 2026, six months after the event end date. That release will detail losses by postcode and by property and motor lines for use by insurers and reinsurers in their internal analyses.
The November SCS event affected a broad section of Australia’s east coast, with hail, strong wind gusts, and short-duration heavy rainfall recorded between Brisbane in South East Queensland and Sydney in New South Wales. The most intense period occurred on the afternoon and early evening of Nov. 24, when South East Queensland experienced very large hail, with stones reported up to 14 centimetres in diameter, roughly the size of a grapefruit. The storms damaged residential and commercial property, motor vehicles, and other assets, and interrupted electricity supply to about 160,000 homes and businesses. The updated PERILS estimate reflects development in reported and incurred claims as losses move from notification to adjustment and settlement.
PERILS said the November outbreak followed an earlier period of severe convective storm activity in late October 2025. Darryl Pidcock, head of Asia-Pacific & Cyber at PERILS, said: “Australia has so far experienced two impactful periods of severe convective storm activity in the 2025/26 SCS season. The first occurred in late October 2025, and we currently estimate its industry loss at $1,512 million. The second occurred in late November and at $2,950 million was significantly larger. The combined loss total, three months after the respective event end dates, is $4,462 million. It is possible that this amount will increase further. These events illustrate once again the significance of SCS as a major peril for the Australian insurance industry.” The October and November SCS periods occurred alongside flood and cyclone events in 2025 and are among the main contributors to that year’s catastrophe loss experience for the local market.
Separate data from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) shows that extreme weather in 2025 generated about $3.49 billion in insured losses from 264,000 claims lodged by the end of December. Severe storms and hail over roughly five weeks in October and November accounted for more than $1.4 billion of that amount. According to the ICA, five events in 2025 were declared significant or catastrophic:
Combined, the October-November storm and hail events (SE254 and CAT255) resulted in about 105,700 claims and $1.4 billion in insured losses as at December 2025.
The ICA figures show variation in annual insured losses from extreme weather. The council reported $581 million in losses from such events in 2024, compared with $2.35 billion in 2023 and $3.49 billion in 2025. In addition to the large, declared events, other localized weather activity during 2025 included flooding in Western Queensland, storms in Casterton and Harden, and bushfires in Halls Gap. These smaller events are not included in the ICA’s headline extreme weather total but added to claims workloads and loss-adjusting activity. Throughout 2025, the ICA ran Insurance Hubs and community consultation sessions after major events. These initiatives were used to handle inquiries from policyholders and to provide a venue for discussions on claims and repairs.
The first weeks of 2026 have brought further weather-related events, including bushfires in Victoria and monsoonal conditions in North Queensland. Insurers have been processing claims from these new events while continuing to manage outstanding claims from 2025 and to operate in affected regions.
