The two cyclones that hit New Zealand in April have left insured costs of $109 million, making this year the most significant the country’s seen for severe weather events in over 40 years, the Insurance Council of New Zealand reported today after collating final claims data.
This figure makes the cyclones the most significant re/insurance event since February 2004 when the lower North Island storm devastated the region.
“This brings the total to date for significant weather events for 2017 to $199 million which means this year already is the most damaging year since the Wahine storm of 1968 and we are well on the way to 2017 being the most expensive year for weather events since our records began” said Insurance Council Chief Executive Tim Grafton.
Provisional data had estimated insured losses at $84.4 million, however, with the final claims processed amounting to 9,186 costs for re/insurers have soared to a total of $108.7 million.
“The weather bombs we’ve had this year highlights the importance insurance plays when disaster strikes. We would hope that uninsured renters are now taking steps to ensure their contents are protected to see them through these types of events. And for homeowners that they check their sum insured is enough to rebuild in the event of a total loss,” said Grafton.
The remnants of the cyclones dubbed Debbie and Cook hit Edgecumbe the hardest and resulted in 15% of the claims received and half of the value of claims received nationally for these events.
The total insured losses breakdown into; 7,075 house and contents claims costing $79.4 million, 1,346 commercial material damage and business interruption claims at $22.4 million and 653 motor vehicle claims costing $5.2 million, according to the Insurance Council of New Zealand.
