The insurance industry loss from Cyclone Alfred’s impacts in Australia during the first-quarter of 2025 has been initially estimated at almost AU $2.6 billion by catastrophe data aggregator PERILS AG.
Tropical Cyclone Alfred was the seventh named storm in the Australian cyclone season, occurring and causing its impacts between February 28th and March 12th 225.It was always anticipated to drive economic and insured losses into the hundreds of millions of Australian dollars at least, insurance and reinsurance broker Aon had said.
In fact, Gallagher Re said only yesterday that the insurance industry loss from Cyclone Alfred was expected to reach into the hundreds of millions (USD).
But, PERILS first estimate for the insurance market loss from the event spans a particularly long period and amounts to nearly AU $2.568 billion, which at the time of the cyclone would have been roughly US $1.62 billion.
On April 2nd, the Insurance Council of Australia estimated that Cyclone Alfred had caused insured losses of AU $1 billion.
PERILS said this morning that its estimate of the insurance market loss for Cyclone Alfred is based on loss data collected from affected insurers, covers the property and motor hull lines of insurance business.
Cyclone Alfred made landfall as a Category 1 cyclone near to the Gold Coast of Southeast Queensland, having previously reached an offshore peak intensity of Category 4.
The storm had lingered off the coast for a number of days prior to that, causing coastal erosion and damage and when it came ashore carried significant tropical-sourced moisture into the Southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales regions, PERILS explained.
High rainfall totals and extensive flooding ensued, while more than 300,000 homes and businesses were without power.
Darryl Pidcock, Head of Asia Pacific & Cyber at PERILS, said, “It has been over 50 years since a cyclone
travelled so far south to make landfall at the Gold Coast and its surrounding regions, the last cyclone being
Wanda in 1974.
“Losses were caused by a mix of wind and protracted heavy rain-related damage including a high volume of claims from food spoilage due to the power outages, water ingress and storm surge property damage and some flood related losses. In some respects, this event has features similar to a severe convective storm with strong winds and intense rainfall, albeit over an extended period.
“In terms of historical loss events, Cyclone Alfred is the largest cyclone loss event on an as-if-today basis to impact the Australian insurance industry since Cyclone Tracy in 1974.”
