As Australia enters the disaster season, landlords and Property Managers should make sure they are ready should Mother Nature unleash her wrath.
The image of an Aussie summer might be beaches and barbies, sunsets and seagulls stealing chips, but the reality is that as the weather warms up, so does the chance of natural disasters striking.
The risk of cyclones, storms, floods and bushfires soars between November and April – often leaving devastating damage bills in their wake. It is estimated that natural catastrophes cost the Australian economy $9 billion each year and this is expected to more than treble by 2050 to $33 billion per year, according to the Australian Business Roundtable for Disaster Resilience and Safer Communities.
The ICA notes that Cyclone Debbie alone resulted in almost 66,000 insurance claims being lodged at a value in excess of $1.4 billion.
The Bushfire & Natural Hazards CRC predicts that the fire season in southern Australia will start early this year (due to a combination of above-average temperatures and below-average rainfall over winter) and large parts of the country will face above-normal bushfire activity.
While the southern parts of the country prepare for bushfire, northern Australia will brace for cyclone season. Although a typical number of cyclones are expected (on average there are 11-13 each season with four making landfall), there is a 56 per cent chance of an above-average number of tropical cyclones this season, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s Tropical Cyclone Outlook for 2017-18.
Heed the sage words of Scouts across the globe and “be prepared”. Advice on how to prepare a property for natural disasters (bushfire, flood, storms and cyclones) and what to do in the event of a disaster can be found on your State/Territory emergency websites.