Initial Insurance Losses From August Weather Bomb $48m

New claims data released today by the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) show that mid August’s extreme weather resulted in 3,165 general insurance claims with a provisional value of $47.98 million.

Of this, the Nelson Tasman District accounted for 1,248 private insurer claims with a provisional value of $21.64 million and the rest of Aotearoa New Zealand (including Marlborough), 1,917 claims valued at $26.35 million.

"This was a devastating event for communities in Nelson and the Marlborough Sounds in particular that will take a long time to recover from," said ICNZ Chief Executive, Tim Grafton.

"It has been more difficult for some by the time taken to deal safely and methodically with the event. In a hillside area of Nelson, this is necessitating extensive geotechnical work to ensure the land has stopped moving. This is now being followed up with site specific damage assessments."

The community response to these events has once again been outstanding. Local councils are working closely with residents, geotechnical experts, insurers and their partners Toka Tū Ake EQC, Waka Kotahi and an army of contractors, businesses and community groups to help put people back on their feet.

"Once all the assessments are safely completed, the final claims data for August’s event will likely be higher", said Tim. "This is a difficult time for all involved and yet another reminder of the urgency with which incoming councils must deal with building resilience to climate change."

ICNZ also released final claims data for 9-14 June floods today. Preliminary figures of 3,146 claims valued at $15.45 million have been finalised at 3,552 claims worth $20.34m.

All of the data released today brings the running total for general insurance losses for extreme weather events in 2022 to $298 million. The 2021 full year total was $324 million. ICNZ does not track related costs met by Toka Tū Ake EQC, councils and Waka Kotahi.

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