Recent bushfires in Australia have caused nearly AU$60 million($63.2 million) in insured losses so far, the Insurance Council ofAustralia says.
|Losses are estimated at about AU$49 million ($51.6 million) inTasmania, where 510 claims have been received from policyholders asof Jan. 9.
|In a statement, ICA CEO Ron Whelan says more than 100 propertieshave been destroyed in Tasmania.
Another AU$9 million ($9.5 million) is expected to come from thestate of Victoria, adds the ICA.
|For the time being, the state of New South Wales has experiencedno significant property losses despite firefighters battling 140bushfires, says the ICA.
|Spokesman Campbell Fuller says insurers expect more claims thisweek as policyholders return to their homes.
|Insurers are proactively contacting policyholders and theassessment of damage has started in some areas deemed safe, but“many areas remain under threat,” says Fuller.
|Fuller says Tuesday's bushfire risk was one of the highest since2009's Black Saturday, which caused more than AU$1 billion ininsured losses. Thousands of homes were destroyed, more than 170people died and 500 were injured.
|Catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide says the fires were worsenedby windy, dry and hot conditions. Record-setting temperatures havesoared above 100 degrees.
|Tomas Girnius, senior scientist at AIR, says “The mostdestructive of the multiple bushfires to ravage Tasmania over thelast several days devastated the township of Dunalley on the TasmanPeninsula. In Dunalley, about 30 percent of the buildings weredestroyed. Other villages near Dunalley also lost between 30percent and 40 percent of residences to the fires. Bushfires burned40 percent of structures in the community of Connellys Marsh, andseveral homes in the Murdunna region north of Port Arthur were alsodestroyed.”
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