The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has upgraded dozens of bushfires that have affected Victoria since January 7 to insurance catastrophe status, with the fires burning a total of about 985,000 acres of land.
The fires have damaged or destroyed around 260 homes and 900 buildings, caused significant agricultural damage and one death, and are expected to continue burning for weeks, according to Aon’s weekly disaster report.
Since January 1, 160 bushfires have been recorded. While the size of burned areas and their proximity to vulnerable assets varies widely, most pose only a limited threat.
The most significant risks are concentrated in Victoria, including the Baylis Lane-Longwood fire in Melbourne’s north, the Walwa-River Road fire between Melbourne and Canberra and the Streatham fire in Melbourne’s east.
Taking all this into account, the economic damage could run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Since the ICA’s initial declaration of a major incident, insurers have reportedly been able to further assess the massive recovery work required from these severe bushfires, with 2369 claims lodged to date across the property, commercial and motor sectors.
The ICA added: “Current indications are that around 30% of all property claims are for total losses. Business losses from this incident will also be significant and we expect the number of claims to increase as people begin to return to their homes and businesses.”
The ICA’s catastrophe declaration is intended to escalate and prioritize the insurance industry’s response to affected policyholders.
ICA deputy chief executive Kylie Macfarlane commented: “These bushfires have been devastating to many communities across Victoria and the priority for insurers is to get people help as quickly as possible.
“We acknowledge that significant recovery work will be required to help the state recover from this catastrophic event and insurers are ready to support communities through this process.
“I encourage Victorians affected by these fires to contact their insurance company and make a claim. They can do so even if they don’t know the full extent of the damage and may not have yet returned to their home or business.”
