Aside from the amount of money damage caused in an isolated area of Northern Territory, it is interesting that the insurance companies switchboard 'crashed' twice by people "asking to take out insurance" before the cyclone hit.
Maybe a little toooo late for that when a cyclone is about to hit you …...…….
And then you have 18 months to 2 years before North Queensland is back in shape with 6,500 insurance claims....
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Cyclone Monica insurance claims hit $5m. 17/05/2006. ABC News Online
[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1640176.htm]
Last Update: Wednesday, May 17, 2006. 6:28am (AEST)
Cyclone Monica insurance claims hit $5m
The Northern Territory Insurance Office (TIO) says it is close to finalising its bill from cyclone Monica, which hit the Top End late last month.
TIO's Les Holden says the damage bill from the category 5 cyclone, which hit Maningrida, Oenpelli and Jabiru, comes to nearly $5 million.
But he says it could have been much worse.
"We have tens of millions of dollars of sums insured, aggregate sum insured in that region so it could have been significantly more than that," he said.
Mr Holden says the damage bill will not force premiums to rise.
He says it was staggering watching the switchboard crash twice as the cyclone rolled in, under the sheer number of calls asking to take out insurance.
But Bruce Thomas, the sustainability manager with Swiss Re, says premiums may rise in the future as climate change increases the number and severity of weather events.
"What we do is keep a close watch on exposures on likelihood of risk and that is likely to flow in, if we see greater increase in events, it's likely to flow firstly in to increase prices because there's greater value at risk and the likelihood of loss, but not a withdrawal of coverage," he said.
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Truss gets better appreciation of Cape York flood impact. 16/05/2006. ABC News Online
[This is the print version of story
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200605/s1639544.htm]
Last Update: Tuesday, May 16, 2006. 12:07pm (AEST)
Truss gets better appreciation of Cape York flood impact
The federal Regional Services Minister says he now has greater appreciation of the amount of water that flooded Cape York, in far north Queensland, and the damage it caused.
Warren Truss toured the Cape yesterday with Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch to assess the impact of cyclone Monica.
Residents and businesses feel they have been forgotten and have not received the same assistance as victims of cyclone Larry.
Mr Truss says the region will need more help to rebuild, but people also need to be told assistance is already available.
"Some have asked for low interest loans, they're available under the natural disaster relief arrangements, others have asked for ex-gratia payments and also some assistance to the business community," he said.
"Well, I'll be talking about what options might be available and how we can assist in that regard."
Cyclone Larry recovery chief, General Peter Cosgrove, was also in Cooktown yesterday and he will report on the impact of cyclone Monica to the State Government.
Meanwhile, Suncorp is warning it could take years for some cyclone Larry victims to have their homes repaired due to a shortage of labour and building paperwork.
The insurer says it has now completed assessments for most of the 6,500 claims it received but a shortage of labour and building materials could mean a long wait for repairs.
Suncorp's general manager for property claims Mark Milliner says there are also council approvals to consider.
"It's certainly going to take us 18 months to two years to get most of the building work completed," he said.
"It's more to do with logistics and the labour force up there. Certainly Suncorp can fund the rebuilding, but we need builders and timber and iron."
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