NRMA Insurance received the highest number of severe weather home claims for any autumn this year on Australia’s east coast, and says March-May claims from extreme weather were almost triple the five-year average.

The IAG-owned insurer received 15,768 severe weather home claims in in NSW, Queensland and the ACT in autumn, a record for March-May. Storms made up around 13,000 claims, and flood and hail made up most of the rest.

“Autumn 2021 set a record for severe weather home claims on the east coast,” NRMA Insurance’s inaugural Wild Weather Tracker publication says. The publication will now release quarterly after each season.

Starting on March 18, heavy rainfall and flash flooding hit large parts of NSW and southeast Queensland leaving thousands of homes and businesses devastated.

That event alone resulted in more than 11,000 NRMA Insurance severe weather home claims, and the insurer placed on-the-ground customer support in North Richmond, Taree, Laurieton and Port Macquarie while 2900 “make safes” were carried out on properties with the use of 350 local tradespeople and suppliers.

In NSW, 14,125 severe weather home claims represented 76% of all home claims in the state in autumn – compared with just half in a typical autumn. NRMA Insurance also received 10,464 severe weather motor claims in NSW in autumn, a fifth of all motor claims received.

“NSW has experienced its most damaging autumn for over six years, with more than three quarters of all home claims in the state caused by severe weather,” NRMA Insurance Executive GM Direct Claims Luke Gallagher says.

The Mid-North Coast made up 21% of all claims in NSW, with the Hunter and northwest Sydney the hardest-hit regions in NSW. Port Macquarie recorded the most severe weather home claims of any single town or suburb. Northwest Sydney and the Blue Mountains made up 14% of all NSW claims.

In Queensland, the insurer received the most severe weather home claims during autumn since Cyclone Debbie hit the state in March 2017, clocking 1371 total severe weather home claims and 1902 severe weather motor claims.

Hail, storms and flash flooding affected unprepared Gold Coast residents, the hardest-hit region in the state with 26% of all claims.

Maroochydore, Brisbane’s northwest suburbs, Albany Creek and Robina, the Sunshine Coast, Mudgeeraba and Benowa. Logan-Beaudesert, Nerang, Brisbane suburbs, Buderim and Oxenford were all significantly affected.

The ACT was spared the worst of the impact, with only 272 severe weather home claims.