Brokers in flood-affected areas of north Queensland are preparing for a busy period, as the Insurance Council of Australia says 2452 claims have been lodged so far.

The claims number has jumped by 1000 since Wednesday morning and is expected to rise further as water recedes and roads reopen.

ICA has declared the floods a significant event and opened a customer hub in Townsville.

KHI Insurance Services MD Rochelle Kettles, based in Cairns, told insuranceNEWS.com.au claims are likely to be lodged in coming days and weeks, based on her experience of flooding from Ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper a year ago.  

“The power is still cut and we’re probably not going to start getting phone calls for a few days, until this rain subsides and the water starts settling and they start turning power back on,” she said.  

“There’s not much that can be done until the water subsides and drains away, and then the cleaning process can start – lodging claims and helping clients get make-safes done, making sure the electricity and everything is safe for them, and trying to salvage belongings.  

“We will have clients who are affected like we did in the last floods. It’s a hard, slow process when so many areas have been affected and we’ve got limited builders in the area, who are already at capacity building new homes.

“We’ve got to try and facilitate and get clean-up crews happening. It can be quite tricky.”  

Ingham, to the south of Cairns, received more than 1200mm of rain over three days, with many homes and businesses inundated.

“The level of damage will be immense,” Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said.  

KHI encourages all clients to take flood cover, and Ms Kettles says nearly all residential clients have it as it is an automatic inclusion, particularly after Allianz dropped its opt-out offer.

Business owners are also advised to take flood cover, but she says that because it is discretionary “there may be businesses that are going to be really affected by this, and hopefully some government incentives will help them.  

“We always recommended to our clients to keep that cover. Before, you could opt out in some low-lying areas. The flood premium was quite hefty, so some people opted to remove it ... but then things happen like this and you wish you had it on there.”  

Brokers say there is potential for business interruption claims, depending on individual policy wording.  

“It’s the roads being cut, the lack of food and fruit and veg and everything, even for people who aren’t [directly] affected by the floods,” Ms Kettles said. “All the businesses up here can’t get supplies to trade – cafes and restaurants  

“It hasn’t affected us too badly in Cairns but it’s going to affect everyone in Townsville and up, and inland is getting flooded as well. It’s been pretty consistent and relentless.  

“I’ve lived in Cairns my whole life and the floods we saw last year, I’ve never seen before. We thought last year was a one-in-100-year event, and now it’s happened again to the south in Townsville.”  

North Queensland Insurance Brokers area manager Kieran Volpe, based in Ingham, says the inundation is being compared to the 1967 floods in the region, which have “always been the benchmark in terms of impact”.

With road travel disrupted, NQIB discussed flying in staff to help with the clean-up and claims processes, he says.  

“We will be talking about these floods for a while. This is a once-in-a-generation flood event. Things are tough. There are no supplies and people are sleeping on the hard floor.

“Flood cover is just not widely available for businesses here, so it remains to be seen what that means for them come claim time.”

Townsville-based Ausure senior broker Anna Cook told insuranceNEWS.com.au that while the town has mostly been spared damage, areas to the north such as Ingham have been “really copping it”.

“The Ingham area has really been suffering. Here, it hasn’t been bad so far. Fingers crossed, we’re just hopefully at the end of it.”

Her team advises businesses to ensure they have flood cover.

“With residential, it’s obligatory, it just comes with it. For business, it’s more up to the insured to choose whether they want to have it or not. For us, it’s always something we’ve really pushed to make sure that people have that in place.”