Te Karaka residents are still waiting for insurance settlements following Cyclone Gabrielle, which hit in February 2023.
In an interview with Newshub, Robyn Rauna of Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki shared how she has been assisting families in the community, with 14 households yet to receive their insurance payouts.
“When people are dealing with the after-effects of a cyclone and when they’re most vulnerable, they’re not insurance experts, and insurance is a highly complicated and complex matter,” she told Newshub.
While Rauna acknowledged that insurance companies are making efforts to help, progress has been frustratingly slow.
“I have been meeting for eight weeks, weekly with the biggest insurer of the country, IAG, but in all that time not one claim was settled,” she said.
Rauna said she has updated key stakeholders, including Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) chief executive Kris Faafoi, Mayor Rehette Stoltz, and National MP Dana Kirkpatrick, on the lack of progress and clear timelines for settlements.
“I feel responsible for alerting people like Kris Faafoi, our mayor, and others about the need for better progress to be made,” she said.
Rauna emphasised the importance of making insurance processes easier to understand, both when purchasing policies and making claims.
She noted one claimant, who moved to Te Karaka after the Christchurch earthquake 13 years ago, is still waiting for her Cyclone Gabrielle insurance claim to be settled, despite only recently receiving compensation for her Christchurch home.
PERILS’s final estimate of insurance losses resulting from Cyclone Gabrielle hit$2,174 million, an increase from the preliminary third estimate of $2,018 million, which was published on Aug. 17, 2023.
In Auckland, over 100 residents remain in temporary accommodation more than a year after severe storms.
According to RNZ, 31 families are staying in hotel-apartments, and eight households are in Kāinga Ora’s Te Matawai apartments. These 118 individuals are in subsidised housing, awaiting home repairs, insurance payouts, or council property categorisation.
In June, the government extended the Temporary Accommodation Assistance to further support homeowners displaced by extreme weather events in 2022 and 2023. Homeowners awaiting council decisions on flood-damaged properties must complete a registration form by September for a free assessment.
