Do you live in Australia’s stormiest suburb?
Bad weather accounts for millions of home insurance claims every year and some suburbs suffer far more than others
If you've ever had to make a claim on your home insurance due to stormy weather, you're certainly not alone. In fact, new data from NRMA shows that stormy weather is the number one cause of home insurance claims in many parts of Australia.
According to NRMA's claims data, stormy weather is to blame for a massive 75% of home insurance claims in the ACT and Canberra. In NSW, that figure sits at 54% while storms account for 46% of home insurance claims in Queensland.
Despite the widespread damage caused by storms, many homeowners aren't prepared for this year's storm season. In NSW, only 35% of respondents said they'd recently taken steps to prepare their home for the wild weather. In the ACT, 41% admitted they felt unprepared for storm season and 31% of Queenslanders said the same.
So which areas are the stormiest?
In NSW, NRMA offered in-depth data into which regions were the worst-hit by storms, according to their claims data.
| Worst hit regions | Percentage of all storm claims |
|---|---|
| Central Northern Sydney | 12.7% |
| St George and Sutherland Shire | 11.6% |
| North Western Sydney | 9.6% |
| The Central Coast | 7.3% |
| Newcastle and The Hunter | 6.1% |
| South-West Sydney | 5.7% |
| The Northern Beaches | 5.5% |
| Mid-North Coast | 5% |
| Wollongong and Illawarra | 4.8% |
| Lower North Shore | 4.6% |
The insurer also offered insight into which suburbs made the most storm-related home insurance claims across the 2019-2020 storm season.
| NSW | ACT | QLD |
|---|---|---|
| Jerrabomberra | Aranda | Caloundra West |
| Castle Hill | Florey | Glass House Mountains |
| St. Ives | Lathan | Palmview |
| Kellyville | MacGregor | Helensvale |
| Caringbah | Dunlop | Little Mountain |
| Miranda | Griffith | Bells Creek |
| Baulkham Hills | Narrabundah | Ashmore |
| Frenchs Forest | Weetangera | Oxenford |
| Engadine | Holt | Southport |
| Wahroonga | Scullin | Alexandra Hills |
So how can home insurance help?
Home insurance can help cover the cost of repairs to your home, shed, outdoor furniture and even fencing - among other things - if they're damaged by bad weather, rain water, or even due to impact from falling trees and branches.
If you get contents insurance, your policy will cover damage to things inside your home. So if a tree smashes through your window and ruins your living room furniture, contents insurance will pay to have it replaced.
If you want to protect your home - and the things in it - a home and contents insurance policy can help. Compare policies online to find one which is right for you and your home.
Compare home and contents insurance
Picture: GettyImages
