IAG New Zealand received over 3,500 claims from natural hazard events that impacted NZ over spring and summer, which is less than half the amount in natural hazard claims that the country’s biggest general insurer received a year earlier.
This is according to new findings from IAG NZ’s latest biannual Wild Weather Tracker, which reports on the weather-related claims the insurer has received every six months.
IAG NZ said three states of local emergency were declared during the September to February period that the latest Wild Weather Tracker covers. This was due to heavy rainfall in the West Coast and Otago regions, where flood damage and slips isolated communities.
“We received claims due to an earthquake, various storm events across the country, and high wind speeds that caused damage throughout our summer,” IAG NZ chief executive Amanda Whiting said in the new report, which was published on Thursday.
The total number of natural hazard-related claims lodged in this tracked period came to 3,536.
“This includes 908 claims from the Dunedin flood last October and 373 claims from a storm that occurred during Northland Anniversary weekend, almost 200 of which were from the devastating Mangawhai tornado,” Whiting said.
The number of natural hazard claims IAG NZ experienced during the latest September to February period is 54% lower compared to the same period a year earlier when IAG NZ recorded 7,844 claims from natural hazard events.
But Whiting said on Thursday that with each natural hazard-related claim lodged with the general insurer, the toll these events are having on New Zealanders “becomes increasingly apparent”.
She said “strong insurance support is not enough” when it comes to responding to natural hazard threats and events and has put out the call again for more Government support.
“We urgently need the government to take steps that will enable our natural hazards to be better managed and reduce their impact on vulnerable communities. We will continue to advocate to the government for an approach to natural hazards that focuses on resilience, protection and prevention, instead of recovery,” she said.
“More frequent and intense weather events are almost certain – the way we prepare for them and protect communities is also clear. Through smarter decisions about where we build, better protecting what we have built or moving people out of harm’s way, New Zealanders need to feel confident that they will be okay when the next storm comes.”
The latest Wild Weather Tracker showed that natural hazards have impacted the lives of 54% of New Zealanders over the past two years with 41% of people feeling adversely affected.
“It is troubling that New Zealanders feel worried about going to bed when it’s raining, or worry about their homes when storms, high winds and weather watches are issued,” Whiting said.
The report found New Zealanders experienced 14 natural hazard events throughout spring and summer, six of which were significant storms causing millions of dollars in damage.
The majority of the weather-related claims IAG NZ received during the September to February period were from house policies.
The insurer reported 2,070 house claims, 308 car claims, 704 contents claims, 449 commercial claims and 5 claims under the ‘other’ category.
Significant storms made up 81% of all natural hazard event claims that IAG NZ received, the insurer said.
The number of people who have put measures in place and taken action to keep themselves and their property safe from weather risk edged down slightly from a year ago, down to 83% compared to 86% in 2024.
The number of people who feel prepared for wild weather and other natural hazards has also fallen from 62% in the 2024 report to 57% in the latest Wild Weather Tracker.
However, that figure has almost doubled since 2023 levels, according to IAG NZ, when only 46% of people were putting measures in place to help prevent weather risk.
IAG NZ also said that to date, AMI, State and NZI have received more than 2,000 home, contents, commercial and motor claims because of damage caused by ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam which hit NZ in mid-April.
“This event has incurred more than double the amount of natural hazard-related claims that we received during spring and summer,” IAG NZ said.
The general insurer said that ex-Tropical Cyclone Tam had occurred outside this Tracker's reporting period and the statistics from that weather event would be included in the insurer’s next Wild Weather Tracker which will be released later this year.
The reporting period of the latest edition of IAG’s Wild Weather Tracker ran from the beginning of September 2024 to the end of February 2025.
IAG NZ trades under the AMI, State, NZI, NAC, Lumley and Lantern brands and is the largest general insurer in the country and is also the biggest general insurer in Australia. IAG NZ also provides general insurance products sold by ASB, BNZ, Westpac and The Co-operative Bank.
One in every two New Zealand households has an insurance policy with the general insurer and IAG NZ insures over NZ$1.07 trillion of commercial and domestic assets.
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