Natural Hazards Commission receives 824 claims for severe weather events in January and February, with about 60% of claims for landslide damage

The Natural Hazards Commission (NHC) Toka Tū Ake has so far received 824 claims for natural hazard events in the first two months of 2026.

NHC chief executive Tina Mitchell says of these, 493 were for landslide damage to homes and land, 170 for storm and flood damage to land, while the rest were for other damage such as earthquakes.

This comes after heavy rain and floods affected places including Northland, the Coromandel Peninsula, Bay of Plenty, the East Coast and Gisborne in January. A landslide came down at the Beachside Holiday Park at Mt Maunganui, which led to the deaths of six people, while another landslide caused the deaths of two people at Pāpāmoa.

And in February, a storm system caused major disruption across New Zealand. The Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti Gisborne, parts of Christchurch and Banks Peninsula experienced flooding, while Wellington experienced flooding and gales.

Waikato was also hit with extreme weather, which led to flooding, slips and the death of a man after his vehicle became submerged. Several areas were under states of emergency across Aotearoa at the time.

Mitchell says the NHC continues to receive a small number of claims from natural hazard events in January and February.

“Claims often take a while to come through because damage to land can take a while to settle.”

The NHC recommends homeowners lodge a claim within three months.

As for March, the NHC has received 133 claims so far for damage from landslides, storms and floods.

Mitchell says New Zealand is a place that is particularly prone to natural hazards, which is why the country has a natural hazards insurance scheme.

“NHC is prepared for this by having the systems and funds available to provide support when people need it after an event.”

“Storms can happen at any time of year but the patterns we have seen over the last few months have been predominantly caused by subtropical weather patterns,” Mitchell says. “We include these potential impacts in our loss modelling.”

Natural Hazards Insurance Levy

As part of their insurance premium, homeowners pay a Natural Hazards Insurance Levy.

This money goes into the Natural Hazard Fund and is used to cover claims after a natural hazard event. The fund is also used to buy reinsurance from international financial markets, meet the costs of administering the NHC Scheme and goes towards research and education.

For each natural hazard event, the NHC currently pays $300,000 towards rebuilding or repairing a residential home. This is called a building cover cap and currently, the Natural Hazards Insurance Levy is 16 cents per $100 of the insurance cover amount.