Disaster recovery. There’s no quick fix.

The Brisbane hailstorm event of late November 2014 led to more than 102,300 claims worth $1.08billion. The storm caused extensive damage to homes, businesses and vehicles as it ripped through the city at rush hour.

The event may have slipped from front-of-mind position for many of us but there is a stark reminder in the number of Brisbane houses still displaying tarpaulins and boarded up windows. The relative slowness of repair and recovery is testament to the storm’s severity. Even now, 3 months on, indications are that for many property owners, full recovery still has a long way to go.

The delay is not the fault of the insurers whose claims teams swung into action even before the hailstorm ice had melted. In fact, recent reports by CQIB members citywide have confirmed and applauded the speedy response by insurers to the avalanche of claims they received.

The problem is one of materials and labour – supply and demand. With so much damage and destruction following a major storm event, large numbers of tradesmen of all kinds are needed together with massive amounts of building materials.

For the owner of damaged property, the to-do list is long: finding tradesmen, obtaining quotes, scheduling repair work… all subject to availability of manpower and the necessary building supplies.

One industry provides an insight into the size of the problem – glass replacement.

O’Brien Glass reported that they have over 5000 repair customers to service and just 2 weeks after the storm had already replaced over 1900 glass panels out of an estimated total of 20,000. Adding to the O’Brien workload was the high number of older “Queenslander” style homes, often with high, above the ground wooden window frames requiring multiple glass panels, many of them unusual or colored glass not readily available and difficult to source.

Building industry trades of all descriptions experienced similar manpower and materials shortages. Motor vehicle insurers brought in interstate assessors to help handle the workload and one tow-truck operator collected over 600 storm-wrecked cars before Christmas.

It’s expected that owners of the more seriously damaged buildings may be waiting up to 18 months before they can re-occupy their premises.

Whether you escaped the November 2014 storm event or your property received major or minor damage, there’s no doubt the best defence is to have adequate insurance.

Review your policy to be sure the cover meets your expectations and the sums insured are enough to make things right if your property is in its path when the next storm hits.