IAG receiving thousands of claims due to extreme weather; tipped to increase in coming days

The general insurance company confirmed that as at 5am on Tuesday, 1 March it had received 6,700 claims, with NRMA Insurance representing 73 per cent of total claims.

IAG expects that number to rise as the conditions continue and customers identify damage to their property.

“The tragic loss of life and devastation from this disaster is heartbreaking,” IAG managing director and CEO Nick Hawkins said.

“Ensuring the safety of residents is our priority and we urge everyone to follow the directions of the emergency services who, once again, are doing an incredible job rescuing people from floodwaters.”

The statistics come after The Insurance Council Of Australia (ICA) expanded its Insurance Catastrophe declaration - which prioritises claims from affected policyholders and triaged to direct urgent assistance to the worst-affected property owners – from Queensland to also include areas of NSW.

Since 21 February, insurers have received almost 15,000 claims from policyholders due to extreme rainfall in Queensland and NSW; a 33 per cent increase on figures calculated on 27 February.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.