Apia assessors ready to deploy following Tropical Cyclone Marcia


Apia today announced it was ready to deploy its team of insurance assessors across central and south east Queensland as recovery efforts began following Tropical Cyclone Marcia.

Apia spokeswoman, Angela Wilkinson, said: “Our initial assessment is a combination of destructive winds, fallen trees, flying debris and flooding have caused the majority of damage to homes and motor vehicles in impacted areas.

“We’ll be deploying a team of our most experienced insurance assessors once authorities give us the all clear. Our team will give us a much better indication of the scale of the damage and we have called on additional resources from around the country to finish those assessments.”

Ms Wilkinson said it was still too early to estimate the cost and scale of the damage because many customers were yet to lodge claims.

“We know the thought of dealing with property or vehicle damage can be daunting, but we encourage all affected customers to notify us of any damage as soon as possible so that we can get the claims process underway and provide immediate support,” she said.

“This is especially important for those who will require emergency make safe works to secure their home and prevent any further damage. Based on requests made, we have already allocated more than 250 make safe works in the Yeppoon-Rockhampton area alone. We have tradespeople on standby to undertake any further emergency work.

“We are also able to provide emergency funds to affected customers and arrange temporary accommodation where required”, Ms Wilkinson said.

For customers returning home to assess the damage, Apia has provided some tips that can help to speed up the claims process:

  • If home windows have been broken, do your best to keep the area dry and as ventilated as possible. This will help to avoid the quick build up of mould.
  • Get your wet contents out of the room/area – and make a list of damaged items. You can group smaller/similar items together.
  • Where possible, take photos of your damaged belongings (and the damage to your property or vehicle), and make a note of brand names and model numbers for electrical items.
  • Speak to your insurer before authorising any repairs. Emergency repairs should only be undertaken in the first instance to make the property safe.

Apia customers can lodge home and motor claims 24 hours a day by calling 13 50 50 or online at www.apia.com.au and avoid delays on the phone due to increased volume of calls.