Insurance losses from Cyclone Yasi are set to exceed Cyclone Larry, although a final figure won’t be known for months due to a chronic shortfall of loss adjusters.

With the Queensland floods, Cyclone Yasi and Perth bushfires exhausting Australia’s limited pool of loss adjusters and assessors, Vero has called in 16 experts from the US to help expedite claims.

Several Queensland insurance brokers also told insuranceNEWS.com.au that many claimants are waiting weeks for a loss adjuster to become available.

JP Morgan analyst Siddharth Parameswaran says the lack of claims assessors is “a massive issue” and means a final damage figure from Yasi might take months to finalise.

Risk modeller AIR Worldwide placed insured losses from Yasi at $300 million-$1.5 billion, and Mr Parameswaran says insured losses will be more than the $540 million inflicted by Cyclone Larry in 2006.

“There will be a lot of legal stuff to sort through,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

While total insured losses from Yasi will probably place it second behind Cyclone Tracy’s $3.6 billion (adjusted), Credit Suisse analyst John Heagerty told insuranceNEWS.com.au the impact on the local industry will be limited through reinsurance.

“A lot of the big insurers have been limiting their exposure in these regions, plus Yasi didn’t hit any of the big towns,” he said.