Insurers have been inundated with claims from Illawarra car owners caught out by Saturday’s hail storm.
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Almost 300 people have lodged claims with NRMA alone.
The insurer is processing another 89 claims for damage to homes.
The majority of damage occurred in Penrose, Berkeley and Unanderra, where 22-year-old Jarrod Lenz was among those who left his car exposed to the elements.
Mr Lenz was working out of Kennards Hire’s Princes Highway plant and was powerless to protect his Holden SSV Redline V8 ute as the storm rolled in.
“It just came out of nowhere. It was too dangerous to run across the road with the hail,” said Mr Lenz, of Flinders. “The yard was covered in hail; all the customers took shelter inside.”
“[The car] is a 2012 model but I only just got it three months ago.
“It was my first V8.”
Mr Lenz’ car, parked facing east, was peppered with small dints on its bonnet and roof. He was surprised to see his colleagues’ cars - parked a short distance away, facing west – were not damaged in the storm.
The hail wrought havoc at Kembla Grange, where more than 150 caravans were parked across the racecourse carpark as part of the Illawarra Camping and 4WD Show.
Exhibitor Joe Gomes took cover in his fibreglass-coated caravan.
There was no time to guard against the storm, he said.
“I know up the road the hail was just little peas, but here they were like mini-golf balls,” said Mr Gomes, of East Nowra’s Auswide Caravans and RVs.
“It was pretty intense, pretty loud. Everyone was inside their caravans, just letting it all happen. You’d get hit in the head with those things. You’d be in hospital.”
Caravans worth up to $120,000 were among those on display, most having been brought to the region from Nowra.
“We didn’t sustain any damage but pretty much all the tin-made caravans were peppered out,” Mr Gomes said. “I’d say 90 per cent [were damaged]. There weren’t many survivors.”
“There’ll be a lot of insurance claims today. The lines will be busy.”
The Insurance Council of Australia has declared the storm – which impacted large parts of Sydney – a catastrophe.
As at Monday afternoon, the council had recorded 15,000 claims and $39 million in insured losses.
A spokeswoman for NRMA said the insurer had activated an Emergency Online Lodgement site in response to the disaster.
As well, extra resources had been allocated to support lodgement claims.
“Our partner builders have been briefed and have ample make safe crews available as well as our specialist hail repairers are briefed to support customers on the ground,” she said.
“We’ve also switched on our radio messaging and proactively texted NRMA Insurance customers in the most impacted areas to help them make a claim.”