Provisional general insurance claims for cyclone Dovi, which swept through the North Island and the top of the South Island between 9 and 14 February, have come in at $44.43m across 8,767 claims, the Insurance Council of New Zealand Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa (ICNZ) reported.

Claims were recorded from Northland down to the Buller District and arose from a mix of flood and storm damage, including 6,768 home and contents claims, 1,237 claims for commercial material damage, 636 for motor vehicles, and 47 marine claims. 

“Major events such as this should serve as a reminder for people to check their insurance is up to date and that they are adequately covered,” said ICNZ chief executive Tim Grafton, who noted that climate-driven, extreme weather events were becoming “both more frequent and severe”.

Last year saw a record $324.1m set for general insurance pay-outs following extreme weather events. But the total economic cost of such events was far greater than the data recorded by ICNZ, which did not include losses that were under- or uninsured, the cost of running evacuations and repairing infrastructure, or damage to farmland and crops.    

“Action is needed on two fronts to help maintain Aotearoa’s world-leading levels of all-risks insurance uptake,” Grafton said. “One is that emissions need to be cut in an effort to limit how bad things get and how fast. At the same time, much more needs to be done to actually reduce the risks to our homes, businesses and communities. This means investing to make them more resilient – for instance by looking at floor levels, construction techniques and not building in flood prone areas – as well as investing in community-scale works to protect infrastructure and prevent widespread flooding.”