Sunday 16 November 2008
Storms lashed the Gold Coast, Brisbane, and the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, on Sunday damaging more than 4,000 homes. Brisbane's northwest suburbs were the worst hit.  At least 220,000 homes were without power.  Power was restored to the last of these homes when Wednesday night's storms hit.

The Insurance Council of Australia reported that as of Wednesday 19 November, the number of claims received by the general insurance industry was approximately 8,000 with an estimated insurable cost of $75 million.

See total insurance cost to date at the bottom of this article.

Wednesday 19 November 2008

From 10pm (AEST) on 19 November 2008 rain fell for 7 hours until 5am.  The weather bureau advise d up to 250 millimetres of rain fell in areas west of the capital, Brisbane. It caused flooding in Brisbane, Ipswich, the Lockyer and Fassifern Valleys and parts of the Gold Coast.  Forecasts for further showers and thunderstorms were expected Thursday afternoon and evening.

Damage includes:

• The rail link between Brisbane and Ipswich is cut with damage to track, platforms, signals and other infrastructure.
• Main roads are cut including the Inner City Bypass was closed overnight and remains closed, and the Centenary Highway has water across parts of it.
• Power lines.
• Schools.

Queensland Premier, Anna Bligh, declared a statewide natural disaster and that extra defence personnel are on stand-by.

Thursday 20 November

Via Bureau of Meteorology Satellite image at 20 November 10.30pm EDT

The third storm in a week hit Queensland swept across from the west. Energex reported around 80,000 homes and businesses were blacked out with significant power interruptions from the Gold Coast in the south through to Gympie in the north.

Energex also reported "90,000 lightning strikes were recorded by the GPATs system yesterday as storms crossed Queensland with some of these strikes along with gale force winds, extensive hail and localised flooding affecting ENERGEX’s power network".

Warnings for central and southern Queensland were issued as two more storms were predicted for the weekend.

Friday 21 November

Central Queensland experienced hailstones the size of melons.  Mining town, Blackwater, some 200 kilometres west of Rockhampton, was declared the state's 13th natural disaster this week.

Sunday 23 November

Winds of up to 70km/h caused chaos in southeast Queensland with around 7000 households without power, and many homes that already had tarpaulins, had to be constrained.

Around 4.30pm a water bladder atop a Bedford Weir ruptured sending approximately 6,000 megalitres of water into the Mackenzie River.

Monday 24 November

Rail between Ispwich and Bundamba stations was restored yesterday and Brisbane CityCat and Cityferry services are expected to resume tomorrow.

INSURANCE CLAIMS

It has been reported that insurers consider the total damage bill, including infrastructure, will be around $500 million.

At 3pm on 26 November 2008, the Insurance Council of Australia advised:

Claims 30,000

Insurable Cost AUD$295m.

Suncorp-Metway Ltd, Australia's 3rd largest insurance group which dominates the Queensland market, reported on 24 November that they had received over 13,000 claims as a result of the storms that impacted South-East Queensland during the past week. Currently these were expected to be more than AUD$150 million. The announcement caused an immediate 4% drop in Suncorp-Metway's share price.

NRMA Insurance indicated on 18 November it has lodged around 1,300 claims with Insurance Australia Group (IAG). 

IAG confirmed it expects to pay AUD$60-70 million from around 6,000 claims through NRMA insurance and CGU, the majority related to home building and contents.

RACQ Insurance reportedon 18 November it had received more than 1,500 claims worth around AUD$25 million.

RACQ Insurance Chief Executive, Bradley Heath, advised the media the damage bill is expected to exceed that of Cyclone Larry in far north Queensland in 2006. The Insurance Council of Australia estimated Cyclone Larry, which crossed the tropical north Queensland coast near Innisfail during the morning of Monday 20 March 2006, caused an estimated damage bill of AUD$540million.

Author

Claim Solutions Pty Ltd.

Insurance Policy

Country: - Australia

Policy Description: - Largely domestic and motor vehicle along with some businesses

Insurer: - ALL

External Links

Insurance Council of Australia

Energex