Preliminary figures released by the Insurance Council of New Zealand - Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa - report that insurers
have supported their customers with $32m paid for insured losses resulting from the tornado that tore through the South
Auckland suburb of Papatoetoe on Saturday 19 June, 2021.
"This makes the tornado the costliest on record," says Tim Grafton, Chief Executive ICNZ. "Significantly, we can see the
impact on residential customers with $24m of the total paid in residential and contents insured losses, reinforcing how
important insurance is to support your recovery when these sudden events happen."
The provisional total includes 1,206 house and contents claims, 280 claims for motor, 132 commercial and
business-related claims.
Insurers were quick to respond with support provided to help customers secure their property, undertaking make safe
repairs and getting assessors on the ground to review the damage and get the claims lodgement and recovery process
underway.
ICNZ said the resulting repairs have been undertaken as quickly as possible with many homes already repaired or with
repairs underway.
"Part of the response was to assess the severity of damage, with priority placed on repairing things that enabled
customers to return home, like roofs, while garages or fences could wait."
In some cases, the sector had noticed knock-on delays of a very active building market and supply delays attributed to
ongoing COVID impacts. "Our members have reported that securing some trades or sub-contractors to carry out the work
have been impacted, or that they have seen a delay or longer lead time for certain building materials.
"These aspects are completely out of insurers hands, but they are doing all they can to support their customers affected
by delays that may mean a longer recovery for some."