Insurance assessors, communication technicians and banking staff have arrived in flood-impacted areas of Queensland and New South Wales to help local communities start the slow recovery process as the devastating floods receded. Suncorp Group CEO Steve Johnston, who had spent time with staff and customers in Lismore and the Northern Rivers region, said the floods caused some of the most extensive devastations in his 17 years at the Brisbane-based insurer. Suncorp was using aerial imagery and real-time data to dispatch assessors to places that needed them the most and had gotten over 32,000 claims from customers so far. “We are focused on lodging claims, speaking to customers in impacted areas, arranging emergency payment and temporary accommodation,” Johnston said. At the same time, multinational company QBE Insurance had put aside $1 billion to deal with catastrophes during the 2021/2022 financial year as the sector continued to be surprised by the magnitude of …