Insurance warning for coast homes

Patrick McInnes, Sophie Harte (left) and Leigh Kitchen, of Havelock North Intermediate, help clean up the Waimarama Surf Lifesaving Club. Picture / Hawke's Bay Today

The popularity of coastal property may be increasing but the Insurance Council warns that those living by the sea may find it harder to get insurance in the future.

The warning follows a surge of high seas which swamped some Haumoana, Hawkes Bay, beach properties on Thursday.

The area northeast of Hastings has been identified as a hazardous zone on council documents for the past 30 years because of coastal erosion and the threat of huge swells, but people have still developed properties in the area, leaving their homes pounded by waves every few years.

During Thursday's huge seas, a bach was swept away and another was left teetering on its found-ations.

South of Cape Kidnappers, a rogue wave smashed into the Waimarama Surf Lifesaving Club and a resident was evacuated after a lagoon flooded at Ocean Beach, north of Waimarama.

There are 59 houses along the Haumoana beach settlement and five of them were flooded during the swell, Hastings District Council senior emergency management officer Paul Hawke said.

The 4m to 6m swells were at their most devastating about midday on Thursday, on a high tide estimated 2m higher than normal.

At one stage, waves crashed over the top of a house at Haumoana, the sea threw debris on the road and it also toppled four 15m Norfolk pines Mr Hawke said.

There were no further threats to property after high tide passed and the swell reduced considerably.

Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said the surging seas at Haumoana served as a wake-up call to all of New Zealand.

"The massive increase in popularity of coastal properties may have failed to take into account the known risks of placing properties too close to high watermarks," Mr Ryan said.

As many as 750 properties in 32 coastal settlements across the Hawkes Bay region had been identified as lying in a hazardous area plagued by coastal erosion which helps feed big waves.