Cyclone Gabrielle: Hawke’s Bay insurance claims have almost topped $1 billion

Insurance claims in Hawke’s Bay four months on from Cyclone Gabrielle have nearly topped $1 billion.

The latest data from the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) shows there have been 17,407 Cyclone Gabrielle-related claims made in Hawke’s Bay for a value of $979.8m.

Insurers have so far paid out $1.08b of an estimated $3.18b over 107,569 claims across the country from the Auckland Anniversary weekend floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.

ICNZ chief executive Tim Grafton said in a statement that many more complex claims could still take many months, and some over a year or more, to complete.

An ICNZ spokesman said up-to-date regional data was limited at this time, but claims in Hawke’s Bay accounted for just over half of the total value of Cyclone Gabrielle-related claims in New Zealand at the end of March.

The cost of claims met by Toka Tū Ake EQC (EQCover) is not included in the ICNZ data.

Insurance claims in Hawke’s Bay four months on from Cyclone Gabrielle have nearly topped $1 billion, with some unresolved claims likely to take many months more to process. Photo / Neil Reid

EQCover, the Government’s natural disaster insurance for residential buildings and residential land, is automatically in place if the property is privately insured.

EQCover applies to landslip damage to the home and residential land, debris and silt inundation from floodwater on insured residential land only, and land scour where the soil is carried away by overland water flow for insured residential land only.

EQCover does not apply to damage within homes caused by debris or silt inundation from flooding or high winds as this is usually covered by private insurance.

Provisional maps showing zoning decisions about where land may and may not be rebuilt were released to homeowners at the start of the month.

Category three is the highest risk category and refers to areas deemed unsafe to live on due to unacceptable flood risks.

A total of 236 properties in Hawke’s Bay have been provisionally included in category three including a large part of Esk Valley, a section around Tangoio Beach, and small pockets of Pakowhai, Rissington and Twyford.

Some property owners provisionally placed into category three are concerned they will not be able to reinsure their properties following indications from insurance companies.