Floodwaters have swamped areas of southeast Queensland and northern NSW, claiming eight lives and damaging thousands of homes and businesses.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) on Saturday declared a catastrophe for Queensland, before extending the declaration to NSW today. The move escalates and prioritises the insurance industry’s response for affected policyholders.

ICA says since February 21 insurers have received almost 15,000 claims – a 33% increase on yesterday’s claims figures.

“Personal safety should be the number one priority as this extreme weather event continues to impact communities along the east coast,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said today.

“It’s too early to estimate the insurance damage bill as many property owners remain in evacuation centres and flood waters continue to rise in many areas, or in others recede slowly.

“The insurance industry expects the number of claims to rise significantly as policyholders return to their homes and businesses.”

Andrew Gissing, GM at catastrophe modeller Risk Frontiers, told insuranceNEWS.com.au the affected regions are experiencing a “very dangerous, extreme rainfall event”.

He says flooding in the NSW city of Lismore is record-breaking, surpassing previous events in 1954 and 1974.

“There is a 0.2% chance of this happening in any given year,” he said.

While Brisbane River levels remain below peaks recorded in the devastating 2011 floods, Mr Gissing cautions about drawing too many comparisons at this stage.

“It’s a different event, but larger in some ways,” he said.

The 2011 floods resulted in insured losses of more than $2 billion, according to ICA statistics.

Australia’s largest insurers are taking swift action to help affected customers.

IAG says it had received 3200 claims as of 7pm last night.

“Our dedicated Major Events team is in place all year round to ensure we are as well prepared as possible to support our customers when severe weather like this occurs,” Acting EGM Direct Claims David Wilkes said.

“We encourage our customers to contact us to lodge their claim as soon as they can so we can organise immediate support such as emergency accommodation.

“For our customers whose homes have been damaged, our assessors and repairers are on the ground where it is safe to access impacted areas and will move into other regions once floodwaters recede.”

In a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange, Suncorp says it has received 5000 claims. After reinsurance and quota share arrangements, the maximum retained cost for Suncorp from this event is expected to be about $75 million.

Of the Suncorp claims received to date, 70% are in south-east Queensland and 30% in NSW. More than 80% of claims relate to home damage.

“Right now, safety is the number one priority as we continue to face significant and dangerous weather conditions,” Group CEO Steve Johnston said.

“Many roads, homes and businesses remain flooded so we must wait until it is safe to evaluate the impact.

“The next few weeks will be challenging for residents as they return to their homes, assess the damage and start the clean-up. Our team of dedicated client managers for each major home claim is ready to help on the long road to recovery.”

The Bureau of Meteorology says Australia is still in the flood-inducing La Nina weather pattern, although it has peaked and should degrade as autumn begins. A La Nina was also in place when the 2011 floods hit Brisbane.