Catastrophe insurance data provider PERILS, has released its fourth and final industry loss estimate for the Australia East Coast Severe Convective Storms (SCS) which affected the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria during the period of 26 October to 1 November 2025.
The final estimate of the insurance market loss is A$1,620m ($1.13bn). This compares to the third loss estimate of A$1,501m issued by PERILS on 30 April 2026, six months after the event. In line with the PERILS methodology, the loss number covers the property and motor lines of business. Property losses contributed 87% of the total industry loss, while 13% were due to motor losses. The event mainly affected the states of Queensland (94% of the total industry loss), New South Wales (4.5%) and Victoria (1.5%). The estimate is based on loss data collected from the majority of the Australian insurance market.
This final report provides a detailed breakdown of property and motor losses by postcode (high-resolution CRESTA Zones), with the data further divided by residential and commercial lines. It also provides physical intensity information of maximum hail size. These metrics can be used to assess the damageability of insured property and motor risks and assist in validating vulnerability functions in probabilistic catastrophe risk models.
Between 26 October and 1 November 2025, Eastern Australia experienced an extended period of severe thunderstorms. The most significant event struck the greater Brisbane region in South East Queensland on 26 October, whilst a tornado caused damage in Melbourne’s western suburbs on the same day. After a brief lull, another outbreak of severe storms impacted South East Queensland and parts of northern New South Wales on 31 October to 1 November.
PERILS Head of Asia Pacific & Cyber Darryl Pidcock said that as Australia experiences the peak storm season, this event is a reminder of the widespread damage that severe convective storms can cause, especially along the east coast of Australia. “We continue to observe various factors driving industry losses such as an increase in vulnerable assets, especially with the growth of solar panel installations in Australia, and the impact of a warming climate. Australia is currently experiencing El Niño conditions which typically bring drier and hotter conditions to eastern Australia. Notwithstanding, the threat of convective storm activity is still very real as recent storm and flash flooding activity reminds us, especially during spring into early summer,” he said.
Pidcock continued: “We have observed more modest loss development in the last six months as insurers settled claims, with an 8% increase since our previous loss report, which is within expectations for this type of event. We would like to thank our insurance partners for their continued support providing timely and quality data”.