KEY POINTS:
Raging winter storms that plagued the country, causing more than 200 slips in Auckland, cost insurance companies $300 million in claims this year - $50 million more than 2007.
Brutal weather was blamed for the loss of at least four lives, towns were cut off as roads flooded and tens of thousands of households were left without power.
Hundreds of people had minutes to gather important possessions before evacuating their homes.
Several Aucklanders have had their houses condemned by the Earthquake Commission or, four months later, are still waiting to hear if they can return home.
Several people were unable to make claims for weeks due to power and telephone outages, but Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said more than $70 million had been paid out as a result of North Island storms in July and August.
The biggest storms lashed the middle of the island on July 26 and 27, costing $26 million, and on July 30, 31 and August 1, costing $42 million.
The scale of claims made ranged from reparation for buildings that had been wiped out, to money for small earthquake-caused cracks in houses.
"It was a very costly and wet and slip-prone year," Mr Ryan said.
"It's putting quite a strain on the insurance sector. People are seeing premiums rising now and also the costs of repairing homes is rising, labour's gone up a lot."
A hailstorm in the North Canterbury and Marlborough areas on August 26 saw $5 million worth of insurance claims and the Hastings earthquake on August 25, which had a 5.9 magnitude, cost $1.5 million.
Mr Ryan estimated more $300 million worth of weather-related insurance claims were made this year compared with $250 million in 2007.
He said that amount showed a steady rise from previous years but was not as large as 2004 when a single storm in February in the Manawatu saw $130 million in claims.
The widespread rain dump of more than 280mm was the region's worst recorded and drove more than 1000 people from their homes.
The country had also been spared floods as large as the Far North deluges in February and March last year which spurred evacuations, swept away buildings, trapped residents, closed roads and cut power, costing insurers $12.5 million.
Mr Ryan said 2008 had seen "more frequent storms rather than just singular, large ones."
"That'll be it for [claims] this year unless there's a big event in the last week of the year. But last year, of course, we had the huge Gisborne earthquake, which cost $60 million alone. That happened just before Christmas.
"The impact of climate change is affecting all New Zealanders and it will continue to do so so people should be aware of it as a risk factor when they buy homes or when they shift. It's a really big issue. Have a look at the risk factors relating to the land that you live on."
Weather-related claims are the biggest New Zealand insurance companies face annually. Single claims for earthquake-related damage are generally the largest but flooding is more common.
