Deep trouble: record-breaking floods hit Lismore. Credit: Natalie McComas
P
eople and horses trapped overnight on a bridge, waters up to roof height and piles of sodden household debris will be defining images from floods that kept getting worse as storms spread and rains returned to areas previously inundated. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) declared a catastrophe on Saturday February 26 for south-east Queensland. Two days later the declaration was extended to New South Wales as surging waters breached riverbanks and levees and floods reached record levels. Torrential rainfall then extended further south, pounding the Sydney region, while affected areas have been drenched again during March and into April. Insured losses reached an estimated $2.4 billion and were still climbing by the start of this month. The total has passed losses from the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires and from the 2011 Brisbane floods. “It’s some of the most widespread devastation I have witnessed, and it is a tragedy for so many Australians,” Suncorp Chief Executive Steve Johnston said after spending time on the ground in Gympie, Lismore and around south-east Queensland. “There's a lot of heartbreak out there in many of these communities, with many of our customers, who we're working very hard to get back into their homes as quickly as we can.”
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April/May 2022
NSW Deputy Premier Paul Toole, visiting the Northern Rivers region, pointed out the magnitude of the clean-up, saying 17,000 truckloads of debris had been taken away, equivalent to about 110 Olympic-size swimming pools, with about 100,000 tonnes of material expected to be collected. The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has been working with local, state and federal governments as the response has shifted from rescue to recovery, and has received acknowledgment from Premier Dominic Perrottet. “I think if we look over the past whether it’s been through bushfires, whether it’s been through floods, we have always relied on our insurance companies to work with the government, to work with local communities,” he said at a media conference. “We very much appreciate that engagement because the recovery and construction and rebuilding of these communities is going to be crucial.” ICA has liaised with federal authorities on expediting visas for the deployment of key insurance personnel to Australia and insurers were also involved in aerial surveys of Lismore, Ballina, Grafton, Murwillumbah, Gympie, Maryborough, Brisbane and Logan to help assess damage while flood levels remained high. Industry personnel were on the spot as soon as waters receded.
