Almost half a million disaster payment claims made in wake of flood disaster
Almost half a million claims have been made to receive the government's Disaster Recovery Payment in the wake of huge floods which devastated communities on Australia's east coast.
As of this morning, 490,000 claims totalling $565 million had been made for the payment in the past 11 days.
The Disaster Recovery Payment is $1000 per adult and $400 per eligible child.
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A state of national emergency was declared to help open channels of funding for flood victims. Brendan Beirne
Three LGAs including Lismore, Richmond Valley, and Clarence Valley will be eligible for two extra payments.
A full explainer on how to claim those can be read here.
Of the claims that have been made to the Federal Government, 323,000 have been from NSW and 167,000 have been from Queensland.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced additional payments for three LGAs affected by the floods. Getty
Minister for Government Services Linda Reynolds said the scale of the devastation is unparalleled.
"The sheer scale of this disaster and the huge number of communities impacted is the largest in recent Australian history," Ms Reynolds said.
"Services Australia staff continue to work tirelessly in flood hit communities and in call centres to deal with the strong demand for disaster support - even when they have also been impacted by floods."
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NSW Northern Rivers communities bore the brunt of the flooding, which swept away entire houses. Peter Wallis/Getty
According to the Insurance Council of Australia, more than 118,000 insurance claims have been made as a result of the floods.
Collectively these total around $1.77 billion, 81 per cent of which comprises of property claims while 16 per cent comprise of motor vehicle claims.
The majority of the insurance claims (73,823) have come from people living in Queensland compared to New South Wales (44,193).
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