Rotorua Daily Post
  • Rotorua Daily Post home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Residential property listings
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Rural
  • Sport

Locations

  • Tauranga
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales

Weather

  • Rotorua
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Tokoroa
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Rotorua Daily Post

Insurance payouts: Most expensive weather events of 2017

AAP
5 Dec, 2017 09:12 PM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Water gushes from a building in New Lynn after major flooding

Insurance companies have faced record payouts for weather-related damage across New Zealand in 2017 - and they say the situation will only get worse with climate change.

Insurers have this year made losses of more than $242 million from weather events - including several large-scale floods, fires and cyclones - making it their most expensive year on record, according to the New Zealand Insurance Council.

The most damaging event of the year was the remnants of Cyclone Debbie, which forced the evacuation of Edgecumbe in April and prompted more than 5400 claims worth $91.5m.

Flooding in New Lynn.
Flooding in New Lynn.

That was followed by flooding in the North Island in early March and in the South Island in mid July.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"These figures are a clear sign of the impact climate change is having on our country," says Insurance Council chief Tim Grafton.

"As time goes on, we expect to see more of these sorts of extreme weather events occurring."

About $154m of the payouts were made up of home and contents claims.

MOST EXPENSIVE WEATHER EVENTS OF THE YEAR:

Cyclone Debbie - April - $91.5m in insurance paid out

 Two houses on Cambridge Rd have lost a part of their backyard to slips caused by heavey rain from Cyclone Debbie and Cook. Photo / John Borren
Two houses on Cambridge Rd have lost a part of their backyard to slips caused by heavey rain from Cyclone Debbie and Cook. Photo / John Borren

Upper North Island floods - March - $61.7m

Fire crews assist people from a flooded building as a massive amount of rain caused flooding in the town centre of New Lynn, Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell.
Fire crews assist people from a flooded building as a massive amount of rain caused flooding in the town centre of New Lynn, Auckland. Photo / Dean Purcell.

South Island floods - July - $31.1m

Flooding in Oamaru as a winter storm brings heavy rain and floods to the South Island. Photo / Waitaki Aquatic Centre
Flooding in Oamaru as a winter storm brings heavy rain and floods to the South Island. Photo / Waitaki Aquatic Centre

Port Hills fires - February - $18.3m

General view of the devastation caused by the bushfires that blazed through the Port Hills overlooking Christchurch. Photo / Alan Gibson
General view of the devastation caused by the bushfires that blazed through the Port Hills overlooking Christchurch. Photo / Alan Gibson

Cyclone Cook - April - $17.2m

Cyclone Cook aftermath in Napier: About 10 trees along McDonald Street Napier were uprooted crushing two cars. Photo / by Paul Taylor
Cyclone Cook aftermath in Napier: About 10 trees along McDonald Street Napier were uprooted crushing two cars. Photo / by Paul Taylor

- NZN

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Discover more

New Zealand

Cook vs Debbie: The science of the storms

13 Apr 12:07 AM
Business

Insurers could join Edgecumbe floods lawsuit

06 Dec 12:28 AM
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Rotorua Daily Post

Why fewer cruise ships may not mean fewer tourists for 'popular' stop

10 Jun 06:00 PM
Rotorua Daily Post

Whakapapa 'geared up' ahead of new season

10 Jun 05:00 PM
Lifestyle

'New perspective on life': Alone: Australia's first Kiwi winner on what got him through

10 Jun 04:31 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Rotorua Daily Post

Premium
Why fewer cruise ships may not mean fewer tourists for 'popular' stop

Why fewer cruise ships may not mean fewer tourists for 'popular' stop

10 Jun 06:00 PM

The region expects 87 cruise ships next season across 74 dates.

Whakapapa 'geared up' ahead of new season

Whakapapa 'geared up' ahead of new season

10 Jun 05:00 PM
'New perspective on life': Alone: Australia's first Kiwi winner on what got him through

'New perspective on life': Alone: Australia's first Kiwi winner on what got him through

10 Jun 04:31 AM
Pregnant dairy worker thrown to the ground in attempted robbery

Pregnant dairy worker thrown to the ground in attempted robbery

10 Jun 03:03 AM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Rotorua Daily Post e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Rotorua Daily Post
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP