The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has confirmed that insurance disaster responders have entered South Australia following the storm in the last week of October.
The recent storm that hit South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania compelled the ICA to declare an insurance catastrophe for the three states to escalate and prioritise the insurance industry's response to affected policyholders.
As of November 05, the ICA reported that 59,237 claims were lodged across the three states, with approximately two-thirds of claims in South Australia related to motor vehicle damage and 90% of claims in Victoria related to home damage.
Now, insurance disaster responders are in South Australia to assist with assessing, managing, and resolving claims after the Insurance Council worked with the state government to facilitate the responders' entry into affected areas despite border restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria.
Commenting on insurance disaster responders' successful entry into South Australia, ICA CEO Andrew Hall emphasised that families, businesses, and communities rely on these professionals in the aftermath of natural disasters.
“Without [insurance disaster responders], recovery is delayed with significant personal, social, and economic impacts,” Hall said. “Modelling undertaken for the Insurance Council found that if an event the size of 2017's Cyclone Debbie occurred now and insurers were delayed by border restrictions by seven days, a total economic shortfall of $687 million would result over the eight weeks following the event.
“The ICA appreciates the efforts of the SA Government, Health, and Police to enable the deployment of insurance disaster responders to support the recovery of storm-impacted South Australians.”
Insurers in the country are also on the move to support customers affected by the recent storms.
Suncorp Group (Suncorp), which had received around 12,000 home and motor claims as of November 03, stated that its local assessors and tradespeople are on the ground to help affected customers.
“The group's supply chain is responding well, and we are not currently experiencing issues due to border restrictions. We will continue to work closely with governments and the Insurance Council of Australia to ensure we can respond to customers as quickly as possible,” said Suncorp Group CEO Steve Johnston.
Meanwhile, Insurance Australia Group (IAG) reported that it received 14,000 claims as of November 03. It also offered assurances that its major event team is in place to respond to severe weather events like the recent storm, and the group has allocated extra resources to support affected customers.
“We have people on the ground across South Australia and Victoria assessing claims and commencing repairs, and our drive-in specialist hail repair sites will be open from next week in Elizabeth and Salisbury South in Adelaide to assess and triage hail-damaged vehicles,” said IAG managing director and CEO Nick Hawkins.
