The insurance bill for this year’s “rain bomb” flooding across Queensland and New South Wales has spiked to $4.3 billion, making the east coast floods the fourth-most costly disaster for the sector in Australian history.

The estimated bill from the flooding, which killed 23 people and had rescue helicopters winch people from inundated homes, now eclipses the adjusted costs of the 1989 earthquake in Newcastle, according to the Insurance Council of Australia.