By Ryan Hewlett

Feb 4 - (The Insurer) - Australian insurer IAG Limited has so far received 108 claims across its brands from the devastating storms and floods which have impacted northern Queensland.

IAG, which includes brands NRMA Insurance, CGU, WFI and ROLLiN’, currently has claims specialists on the ground providing support to policyholders impacted by the extreme rainfall and flooding in the north and far north of Queensland.

Torrential rains have hammered the state of Queensland over the past four days and the rainfall has left around 10,000 homes without power, according to reports in Australia.

The impact has been felt most significantly in and around Townsville, Innisfail, Ingham, Gordonvale and Cardwell, with the ASX-listed insurer confirming it had received 108 claims from policyholders across the state.

IAG made the claims disclosure on 4 February alongside a statement confirming that its claims teams would be on-hand in Townsville from Wednesday to help policyholders lodge claims in person.

It comes shortly after the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) declared a “significant event” for the regions in North Queensland impacted by the extreme weather.

Under a significant event declaration, the ICA commences its claims data collection, analysis, and reporting processes in consultation with its members.

The ICA said the event may be escalated to an insurance catastrophe if there is a significant increase in claim numbers or complexity, if the geographical spread of this event is extended, or in consultation with insurers.

In August 2024, the ICA said that Australian insurers had incurred A$2.19bn ($1.34bn) of claims from declared extreme weather events over the previous 12 months.

The event with the greatest impact on individual customers was ex-Tropical Cyclone Jasper, which hit far north Queensland in mid-December 2023 causing total insured losses of A$357mn.