Catastrophe loss aggregator PERILS has disclosed its fourth and final industry loss estimate for the Southern Australia Severe Storms which occurred from October 28-30, 2021.
The final estimate of the insurance market loss is AUD 972 million. This compares to the third loss estimate of AUD 1.016 million which was issued by PERILS back in May, six months after the event took place.
According to PERILS, the latest total covers the property and motor lines of business. Motor losses contributed 40% of the total industry loss, while 60% were due to losses in property lines of business.
The estimate is based on loss data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market.
As a reminder, the storms that took place in October 2021, were caused by a low-pressure system moving in a south-easterly direction across the southern states of South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania.
From an Australian market perspective, this event has been somewhat overshadowed by the record February-March 2022 Eastern Australian floods. Notwithstanding, it is one of the largest insured loss events on record in Australia.
This was a highly complex event with hail, wind and rainfall related losses experienced over such a wide geographic region.
This detailed report includes losses by line of business, post code and physical intensities further supporting efforts by the industry to improve its understanding of these respective perils.
With the La Nina meteorological phenomenon currently present for the third year in a row, the east coast of Australia continues to face uncertain weather conditions.
by Yana Keller
