The industry has received almost 9000 claims and the figure is expected to rise in the coming days as insurers’ disaster recovery teams move in to support customers after Cyclone Alfred pounded southeast Queensland and northern NSW over the weekend. 

The Insurance Council of Australia yesterday declared Alfred and associated storms a catastrophe – a move that escalates the industry’s response and help for affected policyholders. 

“Since Friday 28 February, insurers have received almost 9000 claims, lodged across all impacted areas including both Queensland and NSW,” an ICA spokesperson said, “However, we expect this figure to increase significantly in coming days and weeks.” 

While Alfred has since been downgraded to a tropical low, the Bureau of Meteorology says the storm continues to pose a “significant” threat to affected regions like the Brisbane area and northern NSW, which is still rebuilding from the 2022 floods. 

Flood warnings ranging from minor to major are in place including for the Brisbane River downstream of Wivenhoe dam and the Logan rivers in Queensland. In NSW severe weather warnings have been activated for parts of the Northern Rivers, Northern Tablelands, Mid North Coast and the North West Slopes and Plains. 

BOM senior meteorologist Miram Bradbury says in an update this morning the storm is now a low pressure trough that is “still playing a part in the significant weather event that’s still going across south-east Queensland and north-east NSW … We’re continuing to see heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and significant flooding through much of south-east Queensland and north-east NSW.” 

The BOM says overnight thunderstorms brought widespread rainfall of 200-400mm across Brisbane, the Gold Coast, the Sunshine coast and the Lockyer Valley while rain continued over north-east NSW with the heaviest falls near the Queensland border. 

“With a lot of water to make its way through the river systems, the flooding impacts are likely to continue, certainly into the middle and maybe latter parts of this week,” says the BOM. 

The coming days will be crucial for the industry after Alfred was downgraded on Saturday, and the cyclone reinsurance pool’s 48-hour limit for claims coverage declared closed at 6am today. The Commonwealth-backed pool provides cover for property damage while a cyclone is declared in place and for 48 hours from the time it is downgraded.  

The ICA has warned although Alfred weakened before making landfall, the ex-cyclone continues to cause heavy rain and flooding over south-east Queensland and northern NSW. 

Insurers including IAG, Suncorp, Allianz, and RACQ say they have already started engaging with affected customers and in some cases, supporting personnel are already on the ground to help with the recovery and rebuilding processes. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was in Lismore today, said: “This event is far from over. This is a time where insurance companies can restore some of their reputations with the public by acting speedily and we expect them to do so. 

“We are hoping of course that they do the right thing. If not, we will give consideration to any measures that are required but we want insurance companies to do the right thing. People take out insurance expecting that they will receive support when they need it.” 

As of this morning, IAG says it has received 960 claims, with the majority from its NRMA Insurance customers for damage caused by extreme wind, fallen trees and heavy rain. RACQ has so far received 2739 claims, including 2572 for home and 167 for motor as a result of the weather event.

Allianz has received about 1330 claims, including 1272 home claims, 52 motor claims and six commercial claims. "This number is expected to rise in the coming days as power and telecommunications channels are reinstated across the impacted regions," it said.