On 21 February 2022, heavy rains caused serious flooding in the Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland. At least 20 people died due to the flooding, while thousands were forced to evacuate their homes.
The weather conditions caused property damage that was similar to the fires that swept through Australia in 2019 and 2020: closed roads, damaged infrastructure and power outages.
According to the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA), as of 10 March 2022, insurance companies received 118,016 claims, 62.5% of which came from Queensland and 37.5% from New South Wales. On this day, the total loss is estimated at 1.77 billion AUD (1.3 billion USD).
The majority of the claims (81%) relate to property damage followed by motor vehicle damage (16%) and other claims (3%).
Read also | Natural disasters in 2021: record claims [4]