One hundred-year rains have soaked Victoria and NSW in the past few days, with loss adjusters saying it may be some time before they can access some of the hundreds of affected properties.

With major flood warnings in place for parts of Victoria’s northeast and the south, central and northwest regions of NSW, claims teams are on standby.

Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) spokesman Chris Sealy says insurers are “monitoring flooding in five states and territories and liaising with local emergency services and governments”.

“It’s much too soon to estimate the extent of the damage.”

Brett White, Catastrophe Response Manager at major loss adjuster Cerno, says the company has 10 adjusters in NSW with another 10 on standby.

“We are just marshalling the troops at the moment,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “We don’t really know what we are dealing with yet.

“It’s truly hard to get firm figures. We don’t know the extent of insurance coverage for these areas and it could be at least a week before anyone can actually get access to these properties.”

Heavy rains over the weekend have drastically changed the outlook for insurers as more than 100mm fell in towns across south and southeast NSW.

Prior to the weekend’s falls, insurers had assessed 90% of claims in the state and ICA had told insuranceNEWS.com.au the flooding was “on a lesser scale to recent disasters and has not been declared as a catastrophe by insurers”.

Heavy rains have now affected more than 75% of NSW. The heaviest falls were recorded in the Murrumbidgee region, where an evacuation order by the State Emergency Service was extended to 300 properties in Wagga Wagga.

The Bureau of Meteorology has also issued a major flood warning for the border town of Jingellic, while residents in low-lying areas of Gundagai have been ordered to evacuate.

In Victoria, rainfall has been concentrated around the Upper Murray region, where some towns have recorded more than 160mm of rain in 24 hours.

Many towns recorded their wettest seven days on record. Up to four times the monthly average – more than 300mm in some parts – has fallen in just two days.

Major flooding warnings are still in place for the Murray River upstream of Hume Weir.

Meanwhile, ICA has estimated claims of $111 million in southwest Queensland caused by inundation in late January and early February.

Insurers have so far received 5657 claims from policyholders around Roma, St George, Mitchell and Charleville, and ICA CEO Whelan has warned the insurance bill could go higher as more property-owners lodge claims.