Whitsundays counting the cost of Cyclone Debbie

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has declared a catastrophe for damage caused by severe tropical Cyclone Debbie, which made landfall on Tuesday afternoon (March 28) between Bowen and Airlie Beach.

The boating Mecca of the Whitsundays bore the brunt of the category 4 cyclone, with winds up to 263km/h or 141 knots on Hamilton Island. This was the highest recorded wind gust from Cyclone Debbie.

In an interview earlier in the morning, sailing champion and CEO of Hamilton Island, Glenn Bourke, said they were caught somewhat unawares by the cyclone’s change of direction.

For some days it had been forecast to make landfall near Townsville, then Ayr then Bowen, but it kept tracking further south to the Whitsundays.

The 50km-wide intense eye of the cyclone ended up coming right over the top of Hayman and Hamilton islands before making landfall at Airlie Beach.

Sadly, in its path were hundreds of luxury boats tied to marinas that were breaking apart under their weight and the stress of the wind.

Ports from Mackay to Airlie Beach and beyond had been closed from midday Monday (March 27) during the onslaught of the cyclone.

Then, in the cold light of day on March 29, and in the gale-force aftermath of Cyclone Debbie, we caught a glimpse of the damage to boats and boating infrastructure. As the day played out, a story emerged much worse than anyone imagined.

There are boats discarded all over the place, with reports of 50 and 60 footers just careering off into the distance, driven by nothing more than Cyclone Debbie. Some now rest on rocks metres above water level on nearby islands.

Boating support crews such as those from the R Maine Crawley dealership on the Gold Coast and Airlie Beach were hoping to land at Hamilton Island this Thursday morning (March 29) to assist with the boat clean-up, delivery of parts and hasten the long road back to shipshape for affected craft.

There has been reported widespread damage to boats in Shute Harbour and vision of boats washed ashore in the vicinity of Abell Point Marina in Airlie Beach, where the town was evacuated and in hiding.

INSURANCE PRIORITIES
Rob Whelan, the CEO of the Insurance Council of Australia, said insurers were ready to assist policyholders who suffered financial losses caused by the Category 4 cyclone.

Mr Whelan said it was too early to gauge the extent of the damage, but insurers were anticipating thousands of claims.

"Insurers are already taking calls from policyholders, and many have teams standing by to enter the impact zone, assess claims and deliver assistance to their customers," Mr Whelan said.

Insurers are prioritising claims from this disaster, and using a triage system to get assistance to those policyholders in most urgent need of assistance first.

LODGE CLAIMS ASAP
"Anyone needing to lodge a claim should let their insurer know as soon as they can. The insurer can then start processing the claim, and organise any emergency repairs, or temporary accommodation where applicable," Mr Whelan said.

As the cyclone was still playing out, with gale force winds and large seas between Townsville and Mackay, it was too early to estimate the cost of damage to boats and waterfront infrastructure like marinas.

Thankfully, we haven’t heard of any loss of life among the sailing and boating community in the impacted region, which includes the boating mecca of The Whitsundays.

Cyclone Yasi, which struck less populated areas further north in February 2011 as a Category 5, caused insured losses of $1.4 billion. Since 2006, insurers have paid more than $3.6 billion in cyclone-related claims in Queensland, and more than $3.2 billion due to flood claims.

Two days later, the region was still be battered by rain, as the ex-cyclone Debbie became an inland low-pressure system, resulting in severe weather warnings from The Whitsundays to the NSW border, right down the State to Sydney, and as far south as Bateman's Bay.

Stay safe fellow boaters.

BOM Cyclone Page at www.bom.gov.au/cyclone
Read how to prepare your boat for a cyclone

Photo Credits: Various sources including Daniel Mann from Marine Electrics Whitsundays.