The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) reports that around 20,000 insurance claims have been made as a result of the catastrophic flooding in Auckland in late January 2023.
Record rainfall of more than 260 mm fell on the city on 27 January 2023. At least 4 people died in the floods.
ICNZ said it is the largest climate-related event to impact the country. As of 03 February, around 20,000 claims across house, contents, motor and commercial insurance had been received. ICNZ said this number will continue to grow and that it is too soon to put an initial dollar value against this event.
ICNZ continues to collect claims and value data on this event and plans to provide a provisional update on an aggregate basis for the sector in March 2023.
Meanwhile, teams from Auckland Council have been visiting affected communities to ensure support is forthcoming.
“Over the past few days, we have had our welfare teams out in the community, connecting face-to-face with many households in areas affected by the weather event. We want to make sure we are connecting with those harder-to-reach people and communities to ensure they have the support they need.
“We are ramping up the scale of these face-to-face community visits – and are expecting to have over 200 of the Auckland Council team and partner agencies, working in pairs, out in the community, door knocking and talking with people.
“It’s really important that as a community, we’re continuing to keep an eye out for each other. If you are aware of neighbours who you think may need help, we encourage you to check in on them,” the Council said in a statement.
Auckland Council’s building consent team has completed 4,991 rapid building assessments in the past few days. As of 06 February, assessors deemed 273 homes no longer safe for habitation. A further 1,556 homes were severely damaged and 2,469 homes were considered to have minor damage.
