Insurance advisory: weather related events

The Insurance Council of NZ advises people affected by flood damage with the weather related events in the lower and western regions of the North Island and the West Coast of the South Island to contact their insurer as soon as possible.

Insurance Council Chief Executive Tim Grafton says “taking photographic evidence of the flooding and damage to your property will help with your claims assessment and if you need to move damaged or contaminated goods from your house for health and safety reasons”.

Tips for recovery:

• Contact your insurer, or insurance adviser

• Act safely to prevent more damage to your building

• Try to make the buildings safe and weatherproof

• Take pictures of the damage (buildings and contents) for insurance claims

• Keep all damaged items for inspection

• Get essential services repaired e.g. water, electricity, gas, sewerage – keep copies of your bills

• Make a list and take pictures of any perishables you have to dispose of

• Don’t start non-essential repairs without your insurance company’s approval.

The extent of the insured damage will not be known for some weeks. “The priority now is for insurers to get assessors out to communities and get the claims process underway” says Grafton.

“Improving community resilience to extreme weather events is now a priority” he said. “New Zealand has to plan and adapt in ways that will reduce the impact of natural disasters because every dollar spent in pre-disaster adaptation measures saves many more after the event”.

ENDS

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