PERILS, the Zurich-based organisation providing industry-wide catastrophe insurance data, has released its final calculation of insurance market losses resulting from Cyclone Gabrielle, which battered New Zealand’s North Island from February 11 to 17, 2023.
The loss figure has been set at NZ$2,174 million, marking an increase from the preliminary third estimate of NZ$2,018 million, which was published on August 17, 2023.
The adjustment reflects the totality of damages across both personal and commercial properties, with the former constituting 51% and the latter 49% of the overall market loss.
PERILS’ analysis, drawing from an extensive collection of loss data across New Zealand’s insurance sector, dissects the impact on properties by postcode, employing high-resolution CRESTA Zones for precision. The breakdown distinguishes between residential and commercial sectors, categorising losses into structural damages, contents, and business interruption where data is available, and includes specifics on the peak wind speeds and rainfall accumulations experienced during the cyclone.
The cyclone unleashed exceptional rainfall – reaching as much as 568mm within a 48-hour window – and wind gusts peaking at 146 km/h across the North Island. Its effects were magnified by already waterlogged soils from preceding rainfall events, including a significant flood event on the North Island, leading to extensive property and infrastructure damage through floods, coastal swells, landslides, and strong winds, while also claiming 11 lives.
The disaster followed closely on the heels of the floods, which, according to PERILS’ final report, resulted in an insurance loss of NZ$2,230 million. Cumulatively, the insured losses from these two catastrophic events reached NZ$404 million, setting a new record for the highest weather-related insurance industry losses in New Zealand.
The government recently revealed an over $15 million investment into flood resilience enhancement in three regions following the severe weather events in 2023.
