No more homes should be built on coastlines or in low-lying flood risk areas after the devastating damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods, the chief executive of Tower Insurance says.
Blair Turnbull told Markets with Madison it was time for councils to have a tough conversation about managed retreat now.
“We need to stop building in areas that are prone to floods and coastal erosion.”
He said it was inevitable that home insurance premiums would rise following the events, which Tower had already estimated would cost between $95 million and $125m at a minimum.
Tower had so far received about 6000 claims for both weather events and expected to receive hundreds more.
