Insurance claims jumped by close to $20 million for damage from gale force winds and storms that swept through the South Island in September.
Strong gales brought down trees and power lines in the central South Island and lower North Island in September last year, and sparked fires in Otago and Canterbury. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A preliminary figure for the event from 9-13 September was $16.7m but that has been revised to $36.5m, the Insurance Council said.
Overall, extreme weather events cost $321.6 million in insurance claims last year, breaking the record set in 2020 of $274 million.
More than half of the 4346 windstorm insurance claims were domestic, 1337 were commercial claims, 583 for motor vehicles and 17 for interrupted business or loss of profits.
The average house claim was more than $4000, while many vehicles were written off with the average claim running at $10,870.
The Insurance Council said the September storms fitted a pattern of extreme weather events driven by climate change.
"As the world warms, there is more energy in our climate system which drives extreme weather events to become both more frequent and severe," the council said in a statement.
Council executive Tim Grafton said the prolonged period of high winds and storms showed the value of insurance to communities.