australia

The major hail storm and severe weather outbreak that struck the Sydney and surrounding area of Australia in December will result in a reinsurance payout for insurer Suncorp, as the company says claims will exceed its program’s first event retention and are eating through its aggregate retention as well.

Two of Australia’s largest insurers are expecting their reinsurance treaties to trigger after a major hail storm struck the Sydney and surrounding area on Thursday, resulting in catastrophic damage and already more than 25,000 claims filed.

Severe thunderstorms that struck the Victoria and Melbourne region of Australia on December 19th, bringing strong winds, large hail and flash flooding, are estimated to have already resulted in over AU $105 million of claims, a figure that is expected to rise significantly.

Risk modelling firm AIR Worldwide has released what it calls the first severe thunderstorm risk model for Australia that captures the three main sub-perils of tornado, hail and straight-line winds, a move that will help insurance, reinsurance and also ILS fund managers to better assess and manage risks in Australia.

The final insurance and reinsurance bill from the severe summer hailstorm that struck Sydney and parts of New South Wales, Australia on February 18th 2017 will rise further, as evidenced by initial estimates from insurers IAG and Suncorp.

Insurance claims from a severe summer hailstorm that struck Sydney and parts of New South Wales, Australia earlier in February continue to rise, with the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) saying that claims from damage have now reached AU $186 million (US$140.6 million).

A severe summer hailstorm that struck Sydney and parts of New South Wales Australia on Friday and Saturday already has an insurance industry loss estimate of AU$42 million pegged against it, while losses from bushfires in NSW have also risen.

Natural catastrophe and severe weather events during the summer months in Australia have now caused over AUD $550 million (USD $415m) of insurance and perhaps reinsurance industry losses, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

The recent spate of natural catastrophes and severe weather events in Australia are set to cost the insurance and perhaps reinsurance industry over AUD $515 million (USD $355m+), according to the Insurance Council of Australia.

The Insurance Council of Australia has confirmed that severe storms that struck parts of the country in April and May have caused over AUD$1.55 billion of insurance industry losses. These storm  losses have caused at least two ILS funds to reserve for potential reinsurance claims.