Insured losses from Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred have reached $1.236 billion, the Insurance Council of Australia says. 

More than 116,000 claims have been lodged stemming from the March storm, with the breakdown including 104,389 for home, 3725 for motor and 8118 for commercial. Some 37% of the claims have been settled, for $146 million.

Insurers have also received 10,877 claims totalling $251 million from north Queensland floods in February.

ICA says claims from the two events vary in severity, but the average claim from the north Queensland floods is $23,000, compared with the Alfred average of $10,000.

“Rising claims numbers and closure rates are a sure sign that recovery in extreme weather-impacted communities is progressing well,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

Insurers will host a meeting in Hervey Bay on Thursday to help customers affected by Alfred.

ICA also said today that fewer than 350 claims have been received from the recent flooding in western Queensland.

In a report last week, Suncorp noted an increasing risk from cyclones tracking southwards as the climate changes, highlighting the importance of resilient infrastructure.

“While tropical cyclones are common across the Coral Sea, it is relatively rare but not unheard of for systems to make landfall this far south across southeast Queensland,” severe weather meteorologist Andrew Bufalino said.

“In a warming climate, and subsequently sea surface temperatures, events like this will become more likely, potentially extending further south in decades to come.”  

The Suncorp Disaster Management Centre report on the impact of and recovery from Alfred shows the insurer had received more than 31,140 claims as of May 6.

Brisbane, Gold Coast, Richmond-Tweed, Wide Bay-Burnett and the Sunshine Coast represented the top five regions by claim volume.

A timeline shows 1886 claims were lodged on Sunday March 9, more than 4878 the next day, and 4431 on the Tuesday, with the rapid increase in lodgements showing “the immediate and widespread impact of the event”. Claims continued to number in the thousands for up to a week after the storm.