Storms and flooding that mainly hit Canterbury in February and March have led to insured losses of about $25m, the Insurance Council of New Zealand reported today.

“The most damaging of the storms was that on 4-5 March when $21.9m of damage occurred. While this storm system also hit Wellington and the Hawkes Bay, the brunt of the damage totalling $19.6 million was in Canterbury where there was extensive flooding in Christchurch,” Insurance Council Chief Executive Tim Grafton said.

“Most of the damage in Canterbury was to home and contents with $13.4m in losses followed by damage to commercial property ($2.8m) and motor vehicles ($2.5m),” he said.

A less damaging storm also hit Canterbury on 23 February when there was $3.3m of insured damage. This storm was marked by a hailstorm and reports of tornado damage.

Last year was the second most expensive year for weather-related damage with over $174m of insured costs, exceeded only by 2004 when there was $181m worth of insured damage (inflation adjusted as at 2011).

The storm that wreaked the most havoc last year was the one that hit 11-12 September with $74.5m of insured losses making that the third most expensive storm event in the past 45 years.

Because of considerable damage to irrigators in Canterbury commercial losses from that storm were significant with $42m damage to commercial  property and a further $3.1m in business interruption payments.

Domestic-related losses amounted to $18m and damage to motor vehicles amounted to $9.5m.