NSW reels as hailstorm, bushfires strike

20 February 2017

NSW has been pummelled by two natural catastrophes over the past week, with bushfires devastating several regional areas and Sydney and Wollongong being battered by a hailstorm on Saturday.

Preliminary estimates put the combined insured losses from the two catastrophes at less than $70 million.

Insured losses from the bushfires have climbed to about $28.5 million from 1200 claims, according to the latest figures from the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA).

The hailstorms that pummelled parts of Sydney and Wollongong on Saturday have so far reached $39 million from about 15,000 claims lodged so far.

Most claims are from the hills district and the northern beaches, where tennis ball-sized hailstones damaged cars and house roofs.

The bushfires affected Warrumbungle Shire in the state’s central-west and communities close to Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Narrabri.

The most recent blaze was at Carwoola, east of Queanbeyan, where 11 houses were destroyed and 12 others damaged in a grassfire late last week. 

ICA has declared the hailstorm and bushfires as catastrophes, with the insured loss total expected to rise as more claims are filed.

Source & Acknowledgement to InsuranceNews.com.au