A storm that struck Auckland and the Coromandel, New Zealand over the 7th and 12th of May, 2017, has resulted in an insurance industry loss of NZ$62 million (roughly US$46 million), an increase of almost 48% from the provisional estimate, according to the Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ).
The storm, also known as the Tasman Tempest, brought a month of rain in just 24 hours, with reports claiming that the town of Whangamata was the hardest hit.
According to the ICNZ, provisional data, released in May 2017, recorded 7,035 claims at an insurance industry cost of NZ$41.7 million (US$30.6 million), with the final data now increasing the number of claims to 7,774, at an insured cost of NZ$61.7 million (US$45.3 million).
Tim Grafton, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the ICNZ, said; “The weather bombs we’ve had in recent months 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.”
Broken down, the ICNZ reveals that the majority, 6,449 claims at a cost of NZ$37.03 million (US$27.2 million), of losses from the storm concerned domestic claims, with commercial losses amounting to NZ$20.89 million (US$15.4 million), from 896 claims.
The remaining NZ$3.86 million (US$2.8 million), or 6.2% of the total loss is related to claims from marine (including land transit), motor vehicle, and other classes, explains the ICNZ.
According to data from the ICNZ, the March storm takes the cost of natural hazard events for 2017 in New Zealand to NZ$174.7 million (US$128.5 million).
