New Zealand’s stormy summer resulted in five times more insurance claims than last year, AMI, State and NZI Insurance reveal in their May Wild Weather Tracker.
Amanda Whiting Chief Executive AMI, State, and NZI Insurance
For those in the north, it has been a summer of intensely damaging storms. In the last six months we recorded 10 storms, and while this is the same amount as the prior comparable period, the intensity of two of these storms was significant.
Between September 2021 and February 2022, we received 8,293 claims for property damage related to severe weather. Between September 2022 and February 2023, that number leapt to 41,596, an increase of 402%.
Overall, the entire summer was one for records – the second wettest summer for the North Island, and conversely, the fifth driest summer for the South Island.
The North Island floods (27 January) and Cyclone Gabrielle (12-14 February) were significant storms that destroyed homes, possessions and livelihoods, and most tragically, cost lives.
We received more claims for the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle than all weather-related claims we received for the whole of New Zealand, for the previous two and a half years.
For the North Island floods, we received almost twice as many claims than for any other singular storm event.
Claims received for the North Island floods: 25,000 (as of 2 May)
Claims received for Cyclone Gabrielle: 21,000 (as of 2 May)
Wayne Tippet Executive General Manager Claims AMI, State, and NZI Insurance
Amanda Whiting visited some of our flood-affected customers in Auckland and Hawke’s Bay.
Our property assessors were in homes as soon as possible after the floods.
We worked closely with councils to ensure we were at community hubs as soon as possible.
We hired campervans to reach customers living in remote or cut-off communities.
For Cyclone Gabrielle, we helped with 710 vehicle tows in the week after the storm.
We now have a permanent store in Napier (21 Station Street).
The two storms significantly impacted businesses which were unable to trade, causing flow-on effects for their employees. In the rural sector, there has been widespread destruction of crops just as harvest time approaches, as well as losses of fences, culverts, accessways, and livestock.
We are working with our partners to help get businesses back up and running again.
Our NZI team was on the ground with our partners as soon as it was safe to do so.
Hundreds of businesses lost stock or produce due to flood waters, like this supermarket in Auckland.
We have been working closely with our brokers and loss adjustors.
Bryce Davies Climate Change spokesperson AMI, State, and NZI Insurance
We engaged an independent market research agency to survey New Zealanders on some key topics related to wild weather.
The community research data shows that the number of people who believe wild weather is increasing in frequency and severity has grown by 7% since we last asked New Zealanders for our October Wild Weather Tracker.
There has also been a 5% increase in the number of people who agree climate change is a key contributor to wild weather events.
As our survey took place in late February, after both the North Island floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, we were able to ask our respondents how they felt about wild weather before these events, and then after.
Before the two storms, only 45% of people were concerned by the potential impact of wild weather. 26% were not concerned,
and 28% of people were neutral.
After the two storms, those numbers soared, with 83% of people agreeing that they are now concerned by wild weather. Only 5% say they are not concerned, and 11% are neutral.
In terms of regions, those in the upper North Island had the biggest spike in levels of concern, increasing from 44% pre-storms to 86% post-storms, closely followed by those in the lower North Island, who went from 46% to 86%.
(Note: Upper North Island: Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty. Lower North Island: Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wellington)
We have created an emergency kit checklist to help New Zealanders prepare for wild weather events which is downloadable below.