Sydney’s CBD, Blacktown and Campbelltown were among the worst weather-affected suburbs in the city this winter, as many residents brace for another La Nina event this summer that could see heavy rainfall and an increased risk of flooding.

The NRMA Insurance Wild Weather Tracker’s latest data shows there were 19,621 claims made in NSW caused by wild weather, making it the worst winter since 2016. Nationally, there were 26,515 claims from June to August.

About 68 per cent of all home claims were the result of severe weather, well above the seasonal average of 53 per cent, while 24 per cent of the state’s motor claims were as a result of the weather, 5 per cent higher than the seasonal average.

In Sydney, the 10 worst-affected suburbs were Campbelltown, Liverpool, Blacktown, Engadine, Castle Hill, the city’s CBD, Ingleburn, Prestons, Casula and Penrith. Across the state, areas such as the Illawarra, Hunter Valley and Central Coast ranked among the highest for weather damage.

On Tuesday, the Bureau of Meteorology declared a La Nina event was under way and with recent cooling in the central tropical Pacific and model outlooks indicating cooler-than-average ocean temperatures would be sustained until the end of the year. The La Nina is expected to peak in spring before weakening in early 2023.

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This year will mark the third summer of back-to-back La Nina events and is also the third time since records began that this has occurred. Australia has experienced 20 La Nina events since 1900 and 12 have coincided with flooding in eastern states. The average rainfall from December to March in La Nina years is 20 per cent higher than the long-term average.

Two other climate drivers, the negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and the Southern Annular Mode, will compound the wet weather across the country in the coming months.