The storm that lashed across Auckland and Coromandel from March 07-12, bringing a month’s worth of rain in 24 hours hit insurers with $61.7 million in losses, according to a recent report.

The 7,035 claims, worth $41.7 million according to the provisional data released by the Insurance Council of New Zealand in May, caused by the storm dubbed as the Tasman Tempest, have now been upgraded to 7,774, worth $61.7 million.

Most of the claims were domestic, comprising 6,449 of the claims, amounting to $37.03 million. This was followed by commercial, at 896 claims, worth $20.89 million. Other claims were for motor vehicles, 354 claims ($0.53 million); marine (including land transit), 14 claims ($0.11 million); and others, 61 claims ($0.53 million).

“The weather bombs we’ve had in recent months highlight the importance insurance plays when disaster strikes,” said ICNZ chief executive Tim Grafton. “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.”

The March floods bring the costs for natural hazard events for 2017 to $174.7 million.


Related stories:
Tower’s half-year profits hit by natural disasters
Huge cost of major NZ weather events revealed