Insurers have received about 1800 claims for damage caused by Tropical Cyclone Narelle, according to the Insurance Council of Australia. 

ICA provided the tally this afternoon, its first since the category 4 storm made landfall in North West Cape in WA on Friday. 

Many rural communities have started the clean-up, but rebuilding is hampered because flooding has cut off road access. 

IAG had received 193 claims across its brands as of 2.40pm AEST today. Its response vehicles and assessing teams are in Perth, ready to move when safe. 

Exmouth, about 1248km north of Perth, is among the most affected communities in WA. 

Shire of Exmouth president Matthew Niikkula says residents “are probably contacting their insurers and trying to set up their claims".

“As it stands at the moment, we have very limited access to the town. There’s no way of flying into Exmouth at the moment,” he told insuranceNEWS.com.au this afternoon. 

“We’re still in recovery at the moment. We’re still in clean-up and assessment. We’ve still got plenty of houses without power, we’ve got limited water running at the moment. There is a huge amount of homes damaged.” 

He says the state emergency services agency’s latest assessment indicates 262 homes had extensive damage. 

And he has urged insurers to “look after people … everyone’s gone through a very traumatic time and they’re hoping that their insurance … comes [through] in a reasonably speedy time frame to get everything back up”.  

He also called on insurers to “try where they can to use local suppliers, local builders and things like that to help the community get back on its feet.

“The more insurance money that can be spent locally in rectifying will be good for our local economy and community.” 

The federal and WA governments have activated disaster recovery assistance for communities affected by Narelle. 

The shires of Exmouth, Carnarvon and Shark Bay are eligible for help through the jointly funded Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements. 

“We know a lot of these areas have rarely experienced an event like they just have with Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle, but the Australian and WA governments are here together and will provide support,” Federal Assistant Minister for Emergency Management Josh Wilson said. 

Cr Niikkula says Narelle is the worst cyclone “we’ve had in 27 years. Cyclone Vance 27 years ago was still the largest … this is very, very reminiscent of it.”