Greymouth 'let down' - mayor

The insurance industry has "let down" the people of Greymouth by failing to get carpenters making essential repairs after last week's tornado, Grey District Mayor Tony Kokshoorn said yesterday.

Mr Kokshoorn said only one carpenter was working on putting roofs back on 20 houses yesterday because insurance assessors wanted tradespeople to submit quotes rather than employ them on hourly rates.

"I'm at the end of my tether," said the mayor.

Mr Kokshoorn's comments came after Insurance Council chief executive Chris Ryan said on Monday that he had reports some tradespeople were doubling estimates for repair work and that others were unqualified.

But Mr Kokshoorn said Mr Ryan gave him "four or five" reasons why repair work had not begun "and not one of them was over pricing".

There were plenty of carpenters ready to start work - all of them qualified - Mr Kokshoorn said

"I've had offers from 40 in Nelson, five in Wanaka, five in Christchurch and 25 to 30 from the West Coast. And all of them are registered."

The insurance industry was "not helping" Greymouth residents when they needed it most.

"They've let us down."

Insurance assessors were sticking to their normal criteria - asking for quotes instead of paying hourly rates.

"This is a special set of circumstances and Greymouth deserves a compassionate, pragmatic response.

"We've missed a weekend of work in fine weather. It's fine today and there's only one person working. But if it starts raining they'll [insurers] have a bigger bill," said Mr Kokshoorn.

The tornado last Thursday morning seriously damaged 40 homes and 30 businesses.

Mr Ryan said in a statement on Monday that there were unconfirmed reports of "price gouging".

He also said repairs needed to be done to building code standards and carried out by properly skilled tradespeople where required.

Mr Ryan asked the community to be patient while repairs were carried out to the required level.

He said the price gouging claims were not just excuses. "It's a very difficult time but when you rush things you get long-term problems.

"Our industry has done this hundreds of times and we do sympathise."

Some builders were submitting "exorbitant" estimates, he said. If insurance companies accepted bids and worried about the price later, premiums could rise.

But Greymouth-based assessor Paul Fauth, who has been operating in the town for around 14 years, said yesterday that he had no evidence of price gouging.

Meanwhile, the MetService says it cannot forecast tornadoes, but was working to identify regions where they occurred.

In the United States, where tornadoes can last more than an hour compared to up to 20 minutes in New Zealand, there was a network of weather radars that tracked individual twisters, said MetService spokesman Bob McDavitt.

"Even so, specific communities may only receive about 20 minutes warning of a 'touchdown'," he said.

- NZPA