Cyclones prove costly for New Zealand
The two cyclones that swept through New Zealand in April this year, named Debbie and Cook, resulted in total insured costs of NZ$109 million, says the Insurance Council of New Zealand.
Final data has found that there was a total of 9,186 claims made due to the damage caused by the storms, an increase on the 8,000 claims that was predicted in the provisional data released in June.
“This brings the total to date for significant weather events for 2017 to $199 million, which means this year already is the most damaging year since the Wahine storm of 1968 and we are well on the way to 2017 being the most expensive year for weather events since our records began,” said Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton.
House and contents claims made up the majority of claims (7,075) and cost $76.4 million, with 1,346 commercial material damage and business interruption claims costing $22.4 million and 653 motor vehicle claims costing $5.2 million.
“The weather bombs we’ve had this year highlight the importance insurance plays when disaster strikes. We would hope that uninsured renters are now taking steps to ensure their contents are protected to see them through these types of events. And for homeowners that they check their sum insured is enough to rebuild in the event of a total loss,” Grafton added.