Severe weather fact sheets

Bushfire seasons are getting longer, and the number of catastrophic bushfire events is increasing, which makes it more critical for communities to understand their level of risk and ensure they take the right steps to be prepared.

We’ve released two fact sheets to help people prepare for future bushfire seasons.

The Bushfire awareness fire fact sheet provides information about the causes of bushfires and how to ensure people are adequately insured. It also provides an explanation of Bushfire Attack Levels (BALs) and what these mean for rebuilding after a bushfire.

The Changing bushfire risk across Australia fact sheet looks at bushfire risk and includes IAG’s latest scientific observations and weather trends to help people understand how bushfire risk is changing across the country. The fact sheet also outlines the top five local government areas across each state that are likely to experience higher bushfire risk.

Read more about the bushfire fact sheets in our media announcement. 

The Flood fact sheet outlines the factors that put properties at-risk of flooding and highlights the local government areas in each state that are at highest risk.

It also helps people understand the potential damage and clean-up or repair costs they may face if their home is damaged by flooding, including the cost of stripping out wall linings and floors to sanitise and disinfect after a flood.

Tropical cyclones can have a devastating effect on communities across a wide area and put lives and property at risk from both the intense wind rain and subsequent flooding.

The Tropical cyclone fact sheet created in partnership with the James Cook University Cyclone Testing Station, provides an overview of the key areas that are at-risk and outlines the different wind regions and wind classifications that homeowners should be aware of when building or renovating their homes.

It also provides an overview of retrofitting options for existing homes to make them more resilient to future cyclones.

Read more about the flood and tropical cyclone fact sheets in our media announcement.

The Hail fact sheet is aimed at raising community awareness on how to best prepare for and protect against the impacts of hail. Of all the severe weather events, hail because it forms rapidly, can cause concentrated and significant damage.

There is often little advance warning to communities that a hailstorm is forming, leaving people unprepared and vulnerable to significant damage to their vehicles and properties.

Read more about the hail fact sheet in our media announcement. 

IAG partnered with the US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to release two editions of the Severe Weather in a Changing Climate report.

The reports note that climate change will result in more frequent and intense extreme weather events across Australia, resulting in greater property, personal and economic damage, and hardship for Australian communities.

The latest report includes the most recent data on the state of the climate and predictions on future extreme weather events based on a range of warming global temperatures (up to 3°C from pre-industrial times).

The first edition was released in November 2019, and the second edition in September 2020 – or you can read all the key findings from the latest report in the fact sheet.