“While Gabrielle is yet to pass, insurers are already prepared with all available staff on hand to get on with accepting claims, prioratising those displaced from their homes or otherwise needing extra care,” said ICNZ chief executive Tim Grafton.
“House and contents policies typically include temporary accommodation benefits, including those held by renters. If it’s not possible to stay in your home, call your insurer as soon as possible. If you are able to stay in your home, it is best to lodge your insurance claim online.
“Aotearoa’s insurers have the strength and experience to see this through. As a sector, we will stand with all affected New Zealanders until the job is done.”
Meanwhile, a major insurer says it was averaging one claim per minute this morning after Cyclone Gabrielle hit Auckland and Coromandel areas overnight on its way down the country.
Suncorp New Zealand, whose brands include Vero and a part ownership of AA Insurance, says it has added two extra teams of claims handlers from its Australian offices to process claims from New Zealand.
Those extra teams are on top of the 100 claim specialists it had already tapped into from Australia to help deal with the floods and storms which hit Auckland and the Upper North Island in late January.
Campbell Mitchell, Vero chief customer officer, said it was continuing to triage claims based on the degree of impact and was prioritising those most in need of urgent repairs or requiring additional support.
“We currently have a team of around 100 specialists from Australia dedicated to the New Zealand event recovery efforts, including resources based in Australia and on-the-ground support.
“Our thoughts are with all of our customers experiencing the impact of the recent extreme weather, and we urge them to prioritise their safety and follow the advice of local emergency authorities.
“We encourage impacted customers to lodge their insurance claim once it is safe to do so and where possible, take photos of the damage when it is safe.”
Suncorp last week said it had received in excess of 8000 claims from the January flooding.
Meanwhile IAG - whose brands include AMI, State and NZI - says it has received more than 21,000 claims for the recent floods in the North Island and is starting to process claims from Cyclone Gabrielle.
Chief executive Amanda Whiting said IAG was working its way through the flood claims as quickly as possible while also dealing with new claims from the cyclone.
“Some claims will be settled quickly, if not already, but some will take time as each customer’s situation is unique.”
So far IAG had paid out over $23 million in claims.
Whiting said the weather events would put significant pressure on the building industry and associated suppliers, and warned there may be some delays.
“We are actively working with our partners to minimise these challenges.”
She said the size and scale of these events was something the company hadn’t seen since the 2016 Kaikoura earthquakes.
“We have pulled in help from right across our business. We currently have 316 teams of builders on the ground stripping out homes, and we are focussed on expediting the claims process and closing claims for our customers as soon as we possibly can.”
Dr Bruce Buckley, a meteorologist for IAG, said the weather the North Island experienced was a classic example of warmer tropical seas feeding greater quantities of moisture into extremely damaging, heavy rainbands.
“While New Zealand’s physical location means it has always been susceptible to systems with tropical moisture influences, the effects of climate change and the current and future La Niña patterns means they are likely to have higher impacts when they occur,” Buckley said.
“Typically, tropical cyclones transition into extra-tropical cyclones before reaching our shores, but they can still carry damaging winds and intense rainfall.
“New Zealand will become more susceptible to stronger storms, because having warmer, more tropical seas means there’s less opportunity for the systems to weaken before reaching New Zealand.”
IAG is the country’s largest insurer with Suncorp the second largest.
While Tower reported over 4800 on Thursday. Combined the three largest general insurers have reported close to 34,000.
