Sydney, Central Coast hailstorm damage bill hits $300m

The damage bill from the worst hailstorm to lash Sydney and the NSW central coast in decades has hit $300 million.

Clare O'Brien from Berowra Heights in Sydney showing damage to her car caused by December’s hailstorm. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The damage bill from the worst hailstorm to lash Sydney and the NSW central coast in almost 20 years has more than doubled to $300 million and the fallout is expected to climb.

According to the Insurance Council of Australia’s (ICA) latest estimate, the industry has received 60,000 claims and insured losses of $300 million.

That reflects the ballooning cost of the storm which battered NSW in late December and its aftermath declared a catastrophe by the ICA.

In another hit to the insurance industry the hailstorm — which left widespread damage across houses, businesses and cars — was the fifth catastrophic natural disaster to be declared during 2018.

Car insurance claims are expected to make up the bulk of the claims being lodged.

In a pre-Christmas update on the hailstorm, the ICA said policy holders had lodged 25,000 insurance claims worth more than $125 million.

When an event is declared a catastrophe it means insurers make claims stemming from it a priority. The insurance industry is also on high alert in early 2019 given the heatwave gripping many states, while Queensland is bracing for potential cyclone-related events.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Penny- which is still being monitored by the Bureau of Meteorology - hit Weipa in far north Queensland on January 1, before being downgraded to a tropical low.

The NSW hailstorm remains a headache for many residents.

State Emergency Services NSW said it was still being inundated with calls, as 200 jobs remained outstanding in areas declared as natural disaster zones including Hornsby, Liverpool, Sutherland, Campbelltown and the Hills district.

Responses have been made to 5,929 incidents since the hailstorm after 8,929 calls were made to the SES state operation centre.

SES co-ordinator of duty operations Carmel Phillip said volunteers were “run off their feet” as they worked through the Christmas and New Year period.

“If we weren’t receiving additional calls the outstanding jobs could be completed within days but the issue is that we’re still receiving around 30 calls a day,” she said.

Ms Phillip said Liverpool in Sydney’s south west received the most callouts with residents needing makeshift tarpaulin roofs repaired and trees cleared.

SES incident controller for the Liverpool region David Henry said there were at least 40 volunteers working on the ground in the suburb.

“Fatigue and heat stress has been a bit of an issue during Sydney’s heatwave so we’ve been trying to start shifts earlier in the morning or later in the evenings to keep as cool as possible,” he said.

Listed insurers are also tallying the storm cost.

In a December statement Insurance Australia Group, which operates brands including NRMA, said the hailstorm would cost it $169m before reinsurance kicked in, while rival Suncorp, which operates a stable of insurance brands including AAMI, GIO, bingle, Apia and Shannons, told the market its reinsurance program meant the maximum financial impact would be $250m.

A QBE Insurance spokesman said the company didn’t yet have an estimated value for hailstorm claims, but it expects motor claims will make up the lion’s share. QBE has a smaller exposure to personal insurance lines.

Local insurers hedge their risks by reinsuring with other, usually global, insurance providers.

In 2018, natural disasters caused a trail of destruction. They included bushfires in NSW and Victoria, Cyclone Marcus, floods in Queensland and storm and flood damage around Hobart.

But it is the 1999 Sydney hailstorm that still ranks as Australia’s most expensive disaster in terms of insurance payouts.

That event resulted in losses of $1.7 billion — equivalent to $5.6bn in today’s terms — to cover damage across thousands of houses and cars, according to ICA figures.