How to prepare your home for El Niño

For the last three years, Australia has weathered one natural disaster after another. From the devastating Black Summer bushfires to three years of record-breaking floods, home insurance premiums have skyrocketed to compensate for the surge in claims, as highlighted in the 2022 Mozo insurance report. 

But now Australia faces a new challenge in summer 2023 and 2024: an El Niño weather event. So what does this mean for your home? And how can you prepare?

Spanish for ‘the little boy’, El Niño is a weather phenomenon where warm ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific create an atmospheric shift. This typically brings warmer and drier weather in Australia, leading to droughts and bushfires.

At the moment, the Australia Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed Australia will experience El Niño until mid-2024. This will likely lead to a hot and dry spring and summer. 

While we’re not likely to get a repeat of the catastrophic 2019 - 2020 Black Summer bushfires, Australia’s eastern states may have to deal with a high bushfire risk this summer. 

For the past three years, Australia has been in the grip of La Niña, El Niño’s counterpart. La Niña usually results in intense rainfall and flooding, particularly along the east coast. InsuranceNEWS reported that the La Niña floods cost $12 billion in insurance payouts. 

Summer heat can damage your home even without the risk of a bushfire. But with El Niño here, the risks of fire damage and loss might be higher than normal. Now is a good time to review your home and contents insurance and make a safety plan.

Here’s a checklist of steps to take before an El Niño summer. 

1. Review your insurance policy. If you have a home or contents insurance policy in place, read through your terms and conditions in the product disclosure statement so you understand your level of coverage. If it’s inadequate, consider increasing your coverage by upgrading or switching policies. Pay attention to what your insurance provider claims counts as fire damage from a bush fire – some may not cover scorch marks or ash damage if the fire doesn’t actually touch your property. 
2. Understand the risks in your area. Every home is unique, so every location will have different bushfire risks. Run your home through an insurance checklist to see if your elevation, proximity to bushland, or even home design could increase your risk of bushfire and heat damage. 
3. Clean your gutters, remove foliage, and cut back trees. An important part of home maintenance is to reduce risk. Keep your gutters clear, remove dead plant matter, and hire a professional to landscape your trees away from your house. All of these can make a significant difference to your fire safety. 
4. Check your electrical connections. Home insurance doesn’t cover negligence on your part, so if an electrical fault during the summer sparks a fire or damages your home, you have to cop the costs alone. Hire an electrician to inspect your property’s electrical connections, including internal wiring, if it’s old. 
5. Insulate your home. Summer heat can put stress on your home’s electrical supply, contents, and energy bills. Consider investing in energy-efficient upgrades, such as double-glazed windows or white roofing.
6. Buy a fire extinguisher and fire blanket. Renters, in particular, often don’t think to buy a fire extinguisher for their kitchen, but these devices can be life-saving. You can purchase a fire extinguisher and fire blanket safety kit from Bunnings for just under $30. 
7. Create a bushfire safety plan. Your family’s safety is most important, so if you haven’t already done so, create a bushfire safety plan. This includes preventative measures, escape routes, and rendezvous points. Include hotels where you can easily stay and prepare a ‘go bag’ that you can just grab when leaving in a hurry. The more decisions you make ahead of time, the better. 

Compare home & contents insurance in the table below.