Freak Adelaide hailstorm officially declared an insurance catastrophe

A freak hailstorm that smashed into SA on Thursday, causing an estimated $100m damage to buildings, homes, cars and crops, has already caused 12,000 claims.

The damage inflicted on South Australia by hailstorms that lashed the state has officially been declared an insurance catastrophe.

The Insurance Council said there already had been 12,000 claims from the owners of cars, properties and crops hit by giant hailstones on Thursday.

Most of the claims had come from the Barossa Valley, Elizabeth, Salisbury, Craigmore and the Adelaide Hills.

Insurance Council chief executive Andrew Hill said it was too early to understand the full extent of the damage caused by the storms.

“Motor vehicle claims are two thirds of those currently lodged,” he said.

“It is expected crop losses from the Barossa Valley will be substantial.”

Mr Hill said insurance companies were deploying 80 specialist assessors, including from Victoria and NSW.

“Under South Australia’s current border regime, these insurance disaster responders will be subject to a range of restrictions, including prohibiting entry altogether or having to quarantine for 14 days,” he said.

“The Insurance Council is engaging with the South Australian government to allow these essential personnel to enter South Australia to operate and support impacted communities in their recovery.”

Mr Hill said it was typical for insurance companies to mobilise interstate staff during natural disasters to assess damage and start repairs.

Peter Kittle Toyota collision manager Chad Buckley with a customer’s hail-damaged car at Para Hills West on Friday. Picture: Michael Marschall

“Families, businesses and communities rely on insurance disaster responders from interstate in the aftermath of severe weather events,” he said.

“Without them, recovery is delayed with significant personal, social and economic impacts.”

Numerous car yards across the northern suburbs were hit by the hailstorms, along with privately owned cars parked in the open.

Peter Kittle Collision Repair Centre collision manager Chad Buckley said the scale of damage to vehicles in the area was unprecedented.

“We’re seeing everything from light panel damage to really heavy panel damage, broken windscreens to smashed mirrors, tail lights and windscreens.”

Mr Buckley said the business had been inundated since the storms hit the state on Thursday.

“Our office looks like a fish and chip shop,” he said.

“It is full of people. In about eight hours we’ve probably done about 100 quotes.”

Mr Buckley said the worst cases of damage appear to have occurred in Edinburgh.

“I’ve never seen glass broken and tail lights broken,” he said.

Crack in a windscreen caused by yesterday’s hailstorm on a car at Peter Kittle Toyota at Para Hills West. Picture: Michael Marschall

“It’s definitely the heaviest and hardest impact I’ve ever seen.”

Mr Buckley estimated one third had shattered windscreens and many would be written off.

RAA senior insurance manager Shaun Ryan said Thursday had been “significantly hectic” as thousands of people made claims for storm damage.

“From yesterday lunchtime we saw a real uplift in the number of people making claims as a result of the weather,“ Mr Ryan said.

“We had over 2000 claims lodged,“ he said.

Mr Ryan said car claims were ten times higher than a normal day, while home damage claims were five times as many as usual.

The most common claim was for hail damaged cars and pergolas.

Massive hailstones at Elizabeth. Picture: Ben Stubing

Hailstones blanketing the ground at Elizabeth. Picture: Ben Stubing

“We‘ve thrown all hands on deck to ensure that we’ve got every phone monitored,” he said.

“The quickest way if you’re able to, and it’s not an emergency, is to go online and make a claim that way,” he said.

Katty’s Used Cars owner Michael Katianos said at least 20 of his cars were damaged in the hailstorms, forcing him to slash prices by thousands of dollars.

“All of our cars got smashed up and unfortunately we’re not covered (by insurance),” he said.

“We’re storm covered but not hail covered.”

Mr Katianos said the hailstorm hit his car yard at Salisbury around 11.30am on Thursday.

“The power and the force that it came down, I’ve never seen that before,” he said.

“It was pelting down, it was deafening.”

One of the cars has a cracked windscreen while the remainder had dents on their roofs and bonnets.

‘We’re selling them at a discounted price now,” he said.

Saints Wholesale Cars manager Eddie Mesic said 180 of his cars were damaged by storms and had to be heavily reduced in price.

“I’m in crisis mode,” Mr Mesic said.

Jordan Brooke-Barnett, CEO of Ausveg SA said the storm was unlikely to have a dramatic effect on food prices for shoppers.

“The market will adapt quite fluidly and produce can easily be imported from interstate. Right now I don’t think the consumer should be too concerned,” he said.

“It might take them [the producers] two years of profits to claw back what they lost in one day yesterday, and some of them may have to exit the industry.

“The main thing now is consumer attitude, It’s a time where we need people to be supporting their local growers.”

Calls for government help

With the storm causing damage across the central Eyre Peninsula, Yorke Peninsula, Adelaide Plains, Hills and up into the Riverland, Hills MP Dan Cregan said the state government must offer financial assistance.

“We have had successive hail events over the past several years, the worst bushfire since Ash Wednesday and now another hail event,” Mr Cregan said. “We really need some additional support.

“The price for apples is at a decade-low. Many of our growers were already under serious financial pressure.”

Mr Cregan said the government needed to develop an emergency plan with industry groups to determine losses and consider appropriate grants.

Primary Industries and Regional Development Minister David Basham said the government was in the process of assessing damage.

“It’s very early stages, we need to get out and assess those affected and work out what damage has been caused, once we’ve done that we can certainly make more understanding decisions about what assistance might be required.

“For some of these crops, we won’t know until they go to harvest them in a few months time what damage there's been.”

Mr Basham said he had messaged his federal counterparts “to have a conversation with them in relation to their support”.

Labor called for the state government to provide details of the financial support it would provide to affected primary producers and growers.

Industry sources have told Labor said some larger growers’ losses and repairs bill would hit at least $500,000, a spokesperson said.

Labor’s primary industries spokeswoman Clare Scriven said she visited the affected regions on Friday and very few would be unaffected.

“This is the food bowl of our state and we need to ensure that the state government is assisting growers to get back on their feet as quickly as possible, both for the industry and to reduce the impact on supply for consumers,” she said.