ICNZ reveals steep losses from August’s extreme weather

The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) has released claims data for extreme weather events in August, which resulted in 3,165 general insurance claims with a provisional value of $47.98 million.

The Nelson Tasman District had the largest amount of private insurer claims with 1,248, valued at $21.64 million. The rest of Aotearoa New Zealand (including Marlborough), had a total of 1,917 claims, valued at $26.35 million.

“This was a devastating event for communities in Nelson and the Marlborough Sounds, in particular, that will take a long time to recover from,” said ICNZ chief executive Tim Grafton. “It has been more difficult for some by the time taken to deal safely and methodically with the event. In a hillside area of Nelson, this is necessitating extensive geotechnical work to ensure the land has stopped moving. This is now being followed up with site-specific damage assessments.”

Grafton praised the “outstanding” community response to these events, with local councils working closely with residents, geotechnical experts, insurers, EQC, New Zealand Transport Agency and numerous other organisations.

“Once all the assessments are safely completed, the final claims data for August’s event will likely be higher,” Grafton said. “This is a difficult time for all involved and yet another reminder of the urgency with which incoming councils must deal with building resilience to climate change.”

ICNZ also released the final claims data for the June 9-14 floods. The preliminary figure of 3,146 claims, valued at $15.45 million, was finalised at 3,552 claims, worth $20.34 million.

The year’s running total for general insurance losses for extreme weather events in 2022 is $298 million, versus the 2021 full-year total of $324 million.