Flooding and quake payouts near $128m in three years
Almost $40 million has been paid out for flooding and storm damage claims in the past 31⁄2 years.
Earthquake Commission (EQC) figures also show it paid $88m for earthquake damage during the same period. EQC released the figures under the Official Information Act, and confirmed the money came from the Natural Disaster Fund.
The fund dates back to 1945, but until the Canterbury earthquakes in 2010 and 2011 it hadn’t had any major claims. At that point, the start of the 20-11 financial year, the fund was worth about $5.9 billion.
It is expected to take another big hit from claims from last year’s Kaikoura and Wellington earthquakes, as well as from regions affected by serious flooding this year, including Edgecumbe, where 1600 people were evacuated in April and the clean-up continues.
According to the figures, 2016 saw the highest number of pay-outs for quake damage: at 54,074 claims totalling more than $74m.
Auckland leads a list of the largest, non-quake related claims paid out between January 2014 and April 2017. Landslip, storm and flood damage saw EQC pay out $2.4m for an Auckland claim in 2015. It was almost $2m more than the next largest claim in Gisborne from June 2014.
An EQC spokesman said the top Auckland claim “relates to a group of properties”. A storm that hit Auckland in July 2015 flooded Henderson Valley, Waitakere, Papatoetoe, Papakura and the International Airport.
The deluge saw 77.4mm of rain in parts of Auckland in just five hours and prompted 17 emergency calls for flooded homes. Infamously, the inundation prompted a review of Auckland Council’s response to flooding, which revealed the media knew more about the storm’s impact than civil defence emergency managers.
Claims from Gisborne account for seven of the top 10 non-quake claims, totalling just over $2m.
EQC is a Crown entity investing in natural disaster research, education and providing insurance to residential property owners.
Minister responsible for EQC, Gerry Brownlee, announced this month the commission will lead the clean up of flood-damaged properties in Edgecumbe.