As homes and businesses try to recover from the devastating flood in Southland, some have already started processing their claims – with one sharing that it has lodged an insurance claim likely to pass $1 million.

Farm machinery products store Agriline, one of the heavily affected businesses in Gore, confirmed that its machinery parts come from Australia, France, Italy, and Spain, so the cost of fixing them would be more than a million.

“[The water went] through the whole workshop and everything, all the welders and compressors and parts, are all stuffed,” James Hamlin, shareholder at Agriline, said. “There’s like three or four $100,000 machines alone, plus heaps of $30,000 machines.”

Read more: ICNZ issues advice to Kiwis affected by Southland flood

Hamlin confirmed that they have completed a thorough stocktake and sent off insurance claims. However, they were still running the business via mobile phones and a temporary office while planning a full clean-up at the Gore office.

“We had all the machines all cleaned and ready to go, and they all ended up underwater. They’ve had to be re-cleaned, and they have to have new bearings and gearboxes,” Hamlin explained.

The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) clarified that it’s still too early to comment on specific numbers following the flood.