‘Costliest’ tornado bills New Zealand insurers NZ$32m

The tornado tore through the country last June.

A tornado that tore through New Zealand last June left in its wake a bill of NZ$32m ($22.42m) for insurers, which the Insurance Council of New Zealand called the "costliest" one yet.

By the council’s count, the provisional total includes 1,206 house and contents claims, 280 claims for motor, and 132 commercial and business-related claims.

“This makes the tornado the costliest on record. Significantly, we can see the impact on residential customers with NZ$24m of the total paid in residential and contents insured losses, reinforcing how important insurance is to support your recovery when these sudden events happen,” Tim Grafton, chief executive of ICNZ, said.

ICNZ said in its report that insurers were quick to respond with support provided to help customers secure their property, undertake safe repairs and get assessors on the ground to review the damage and get the claims lodgement and recovery process underway.

ICNZ said the resulting repairs have been undertaken as quickly as possible with many homes already repaired or with repairs underway.