Cyclone Gabrielle general insurance claims have reached over 40,000 to date, worth around $890 million, according to provisional data from the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ).
The ICNZ said that of this figure, around $70 million has been paid out. ICNZ chief executive Tim Grafton also said that insurers in the country have so far paid out over $180 million in claims across both the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle weather events.
In a press release from the ICNZ, the council said that home and contents claim across the country total 27,800, with the worth at an initial estimate of $453 million.
Regionally speaking, 13,000 of the 40,000 recorded claims were in Hawke’s Bay, which is the most across New Zealand. Although this is only about a third of the total number of claims, the extent of the damage within the region is such that it accounts for more than half the total estimate at around $481 million.
Damage to businesses was also recorded at an initial claims value of over $350 million. Vehicles, both those damaged and written off entirely, recorded over 5,000 claims worth over $73 million.
Grafton said that insurers around the country are doing all that they can to get assessments completed and to continue towards the next steps with customers. Homeowners and renters who found themselves displaced by the weather events were also being provided with temporary accommodation by insurers.
According to the ICNZ, final figures and numbers on the claims and its total worth will be reported in three months once the cost of claims is known. What’s for certain, though, is its effect on the industry, as an early estimate puts insurers’ losses at NZ$1.65 billion for the Auckland floods alone.
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