Rural insurer FMG settles more than 9000 claims made after Cyclone Gabrielle

Thick silt and upended tractors lie at the front of Pheasant Farm, Esk Valley, in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / RNZ / Jemima Huston

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

Rural insurer FMG has closed four-fifths of the 11,500 claims made following Cyclone Gabrielle.

FMG said the cyclone and the Auckland Anniversary Weekend floods resulted in the biggest job in the company’s 118-year history.

The majority of claims, 4612, came from Hawke’s Bay; 1835 were made in Northland, 1851 in Auckland, 1257 in Waikato and 675 in Gisborne.

Head of recovery response Jacqui McIntosh said a huge amount of work had gone into closing claims, and by the end of this week, 80 per cent would be closed.

“We’ve seen a slowdown in claims coming through,” she said.

“We get about 150 a month, however, most of those are from clients with existing claims that are just adding something extra that they didn’t realise was damaged.

“For the most part, the claims are for flooding, wind and slip damage, but to a raft of different assets from farm fencing to vehicles to whole houses, whole businesses, right down to people losing their rings and the kids’ toys.”

McIntosh said the cyclone and flooding had been a hugely impactful event for many people and the scale of the damage was astonishing.

“Particularly in the Esk Valley and around Dartmoor, it’s like a wasteland of silt and it’s hard to believe people were living and working there just the day before.”

Like in other major events, some people found out while making their claim they were under-insured, McIntosh said.

“It’s vital people have an understanding of their policy, I describe it as ‘know it before you need it’ - know what your policy is for, and know what you need to do in the event of making a claim.

“But more importantly, know the level of cover you have in place and review it on a regular basis - being underinsured is very common.”

- RNZ