Australia's insurers are going into storm season after a year that has already doubled the usual bill. Insured losses from declared catastrophe events reached $3.98 billion this financial year, spread across seven events. The year before, it was $2.2 billion across three.
The signs for the months ahead point the same way. Australia has just had its equal third-hottest winter on record, and New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania each had their warmest. Veteran 7NEWS meteorologist Tony Auden says he has never seen so many reports of 10cm hail in his career. That is hail bigger than a cricket ball. The Bureau of Meteorology's outlook has storm risk building first across NSW and Queensland, moving south toward Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia around Christmas, while thunderstorm and tropical risk rises across the north.
Storm and hail already cause more insured losses than any other natural hazard in Australia, and the heaviest months are still to come. Since 2013, 78% of declared insurance catastrophes have happened between October and April, and those months account for 90% of losses.
Each claim also costs more than it used to. Building costs rose about 30% in the five years to March 2026, and roof tiles, usually the first thing a big hailstorm destroys, are up 77%. More severe hail hitting a more expensive rebuild market adds up fast.
For underwriters and brokers, the next few weeks are the cheapest time in the season to act.
Start by checking sums insured against today's rebuild costs, especially for property, motor and rural clients in NSW and south-east Queensland, where the season starts. Underinsurance found after a hailstorm turns into a dispute. Found now, it's a conversation.
Next, know where your exposure sits. A book concentrated in known hail areas, such as the corridor between Brisbane and Sydney, is what turns one bad afternoon into a catastrophe event. Seeing those concentrations before the season gives you room to adjust your appetite, pricing or reinsurance while you still have options.
Then decide ahead of time how you will confirm what happened. When a storm crosses a metro area, the first 48 hours decide how quickly claims are sorted, where assessors go and whether early reserving decisions hold up. If verified, location-specific hail data is ready before the first claim arrives, every step after it moves faster.
EWN helps insurers understand where severe weather is likely to hit their portfolio and what it will cost, so they can act earlier and make decisions they can defend. Our underwriting solution brings impact intelligence into every stage of the insurance lifecycle: risk selection and pricing before the season, early warning as events approach, and verified, auditable evidence of what happened once they pass. Underwriting, claims and CAT teams all work from the same record, so decisions made in the first hours of an event still stand up weeks later, when claims are settled and disputes come up.
This season looks set to test every link in that chain. Preparing now will cost insurers less than at any other point this year.