Cyclone Alfred: 'Insurance catastrophe' declared, 3000 claims so far

Insurance customers have already lodged 3000 claims over two days as ex-tropical cyclone Alfred wreaks havoc on homes and businesses.

Insurance Council of Australia chief executive officer Andrew Hall said it was too early to estimate the total insurance bill.

“However, insurers have received around 3000 claims in the past two days and expect many more thousands of claims as residents return to their homes and understand the full extent of the damage,” Hall said in a statement.

An “insurance catastrophe” has been declared for southeast Queensland and northern New South Wales, triggering priority treatment for affected policyholders and triaging to ensure those hit hardest receive urgent assistance.

“We encourage impacted policyholders to contact their insurer to begin the claims process,” Hall said.

Insured losses of $2 billion were pencilled in by S&P Global Ratings late last week but fears of a category 2 system making landfall did not come to pass, with Alfred downgraded to a tropical low before hitting the coast between Brisbane and Maroochydore on Saturday night.

Despite the downgrade, Alfred has caused power outages, flooding and falling debris and more rainfall and wild weather is expected.

Ex-tropical cyclone Jasper that hit north Queensland in December 2023 cost $409 million in total, from 10,500 claims.

Cyclone Tracy, which devastated much of Darwin back in 1974, was the costliest cyclone in Australian history, with insured losses of $7.3 billion when normalised to 2023 values.

It was still too early to predict if insurance premiums would rise following the extreme weather event but the council said the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters was leading to higher costs for customers.

Alfred was moving as a tropical low from Queensland’s Bribie Island across the coast and inland towards the state’s southwest on Sunday.

Forecasters expected the heavy rain and destructive gusts to continue until Monday.

Meanwhile, Australian troops will continue to be used in response to devastating natural disasters despite a warning domestic recovery operations detracted from the military’s primary goal of defending the nation.

The Albanese government approved the use of the Australian Defence Force to support authorities in planning and responding to ex-Cyclone Alfred.

Defence Minister Richard Marles said the government was working with the nation’s emergency management agencies to structure future disaster responses.

“But in a given disaster right now, Defence will always be there to present and that is what has occurred,” he told reporters in Canberra on Sunday.

“Yes, there is a conversation that ... we are having and we will continue to have going forward.

“We will continue to lean forward to make sure that all the capabilities are provided.”

Mr Marles said defence force personnel who provided support in times of need were enormously proud and grateful for the opportunity.

The defence strategic review, released in 2023, warned against using the military as a domestic disaster recovery agency.

It found the increasing number of major climate events risked overwhelming the government’s capacity to respond effectively, and detracted from “Defence’s primary objective of defending Australia”.

As the nation is hit with repeated extreme flooding and bushfires, the ADF has increasingly been called on by governments to provide the people and capabilities to help.

A parliamentary committee previously expressed alarm that more than half of all ADF members had been assigned to disaster relief in recent years.