Help pours in to flood-hit areas

By JAMES GARDINER and NZPA

Councils across the central North Island are raising money and providing practical help for flood-devastated areas of the lower North Island.

Taupo District Council's Civil Defence Rescue Team has completed a four-day mission helping out in the Manawatu.

Team leader Phil Parker said the damage caused by the floods was far worse than portrayed on the television news.

His team of eight had been helping people to move their furniture, lift carpets, clear mud out of houses and trees from roads and powerlines. They also checked on people in isolated places.

"It is just the most horrendous devastation," Mr Parker said. "There are expanses of water that look the size of Lake Taupo - but it is people's farms under water.

"In one rural community, there are six houses in one road which will have to be bulldozed because they have had so much mud and water through them.

"There are elderly people struggling by themselves to lift furniture and carpets, just dazed and in shock."

Taupo District Council emergency management officer Martin Sears said the four days had the additional spin-off of providing "more training than they could have gained in a year".

Meanwhile, the Whakatane District Council has donated $35,000 to flood victims and challenged other councils to match it.

Mayor Colin Hammond said the donation equated to approximately $1 for each of the district's residents.

The Kawerau District Council donated $2500 to flooded regions and the Opotiki District Council $1500.

One of the country's largest residential mortgage insurers is also offering a six-month repayment holiday to people who lost their homes.

PMI managing director Ian Graham said the deal could also be extended businesses whose income has been affected by the floods and volunteers who took time off work to help with repair and recovery work.

The company provides mortgage insurance which covers lenders such as banks when customers default on their home loans.

Mr Graham said PMI would also waive any mortgage insurance fee for increases to existing mortgage insurance cover for affected homeowners, where the increase was for a replacement property.

Australian insurer Proxima has received almost $13 million in claims from the flooding and expects the figure to rise to $20 million.

But homeowners who have suffered serious storm damage can expect their claims to be thoroughly examined by insurance companies wary of fraud.

"This is the dark side of this situation," Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said. "People take advantage of a flood like this. For example, they might throw out everything they own and expect it to be replaced brand new, and it might not be wet. That's why we really need to look at the goods."

Mr Ryan said there were also disputes over whether houses could be or should be rebuilt on the same site, and over their true value if condemned.

He said he was aware of several disputes already between insurers and claimants where assessors believed the house was repairable and the owners were saying they did not want to live there again.

So far 59 houses, all in the Manawatu-Wanganui region, have been condemned but that number is expected to climb, according to Civil Defence Ministry national controller Mike O'Leary.

- NZPA