Cyclone Gabrielle caused devastating destruction, destroying houses with water and silt, such as this home in Rissington, northwest of Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland
Cyclone Gabrielle caused devastating destruction, destroying houses with water and silt, such as this home in Rissington, northwest of Napier. Photo / Warren Buckland
The country’s largest insurer says residents in regions hit by Cyclone Gabrielle lodged a record number of claims.
IAG, which owns AMI, State and NZI Insurance, said the North Island’s stormy summer resulted in 41,596 weather claims in the six months to the end of February, compared to 8293 for the same period last year.
IAG chief executive Amanda Whiting said almost twice as many claims were lodged for Cyclone Gabrielle and Auckland’s Anniversary Weekend floods than for any other storm.
“Those two events alone have generated more weather-related claims than we received for the whole country, for the previous two and a half years,” she said.
IAG received 26,000 claims from Auckland residents after the two storms - the most weather-related claims in the past decade.
It was a similar story in Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay, where residents lodged more cyclone-related claims than any other weather-related claims in the past decade and nine years respectively.
As of this month, claims to IAG from the Anniversary Weekend flooding totalled 25,000 and 21,000 for Cyclone Gabrielle.
That’s almost half the total claims lodged with all insurers, , which the Insurance Council tallied at just over 96,500 last month.
IAG also surveyed public sentiment after the summer storms, as part of its six-monthly Wild Weather Tracker.
Wairoa in northern Hawke's Bay was flooded after the Wairoa River burst its banks during Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Hawke's Bay Civil Defence Emergency Management Group
Substantial rise in weather concerns
It showed New Zealanders’ levels of concern about weather were at record highs, jumping from 45 per cent before the storms to 83 per cent after.
Those in the upper North Island had the biggest spike with levels of concern almost doubling, closely followed by those in the lower North Island.
“What we saw this summer was a stark reminder that storms are traumatising events that put people’s lives at risk,” IAG’s Whiting said.
The survey found only just over half of people in the upper North Island and close to a third of those in the lower North Island prepared for either storm, despite weather warnings.
Of those who did not prepare, most said it was either because they did not think they would be affected, or the events were not in their area.
“The survey gave a sense that people felt they wouldn’t personally be impacted which, as we can see from the claims numbers, is simply not true,” Whiting said.
“These events are not only becoming more frequent, but they are also impacting more people, some repeatedly, and the level of property damage is significant. Clearly, our climate is changing, and our future weather patterns will be different to what we have seen in the past.”
A framework for managed retreat is starting to emerge. This week Cyclone Recovery Minister Grant Robertson said people whose homes were damaged by Cyclone Gabrielle and the January floods will find out the future of their properties once the Government has placed them in its new category system.
Robertson said the cyclone taskforce has been working with insurance companies and councils to build a picture of high-risk areas.
“There’s no one-size-fits-all approach - each area is unique and influenced by a number of factors, which is why we are taking the time to get this right.”
The future of properties affected by weather will be assessed under three categories: properties deemed low risk will be repaired, medium-risk properties will need community or property-level interventions, high-risk properties would not be safe to live in or rebuild.
IAG said it presented a three-step plan to the Government in August last year, calling for urgent action to keep people safe from the effects of a changing climate.
“It’s important to identify the most flood-prone locations across New Zealand, agree to stop building in these places, and to invest in flood protection infrastructure,” Whiting said.
“Inaction won’t just result in higher insurance costs, but in the further loss of lives and livelihoods and in the fear and trauma of loss in communities across the country.”
She said IAG wanted to keep insurance available and affordable for all.
“But ultimately, we need to reduce the risk and impact of flooding. We are actively working with government and other key stakeholders, and we are ready to play our part.”
Whiting said IAG was working through the huge volume of claims and some were complex to resolve, “especially where there has been extensive land damage, as these are often reliant on the involvement of a range of technical experts and councils”.
