PERILS ups Cyclone Gabrielle loss estimate 25% as individual claims climb

Cyclone Gabrielle may have rendered NZ$1.925 billion ($1.20 billion) in insured losses during early February trek across the north island of New Zealand, nearly 25% above the initial estimate following rising individual claims sizes, the Swiss-based nat cat counter PERILS said in its first update to the event tally.

Gabrielle brought “extreme rainfall and strong winds” to the North Island between February 11 and 17. The storm delivered rainfall of up to 568mm in 48 hours and with maximum wind gusts of up to 146 km/h.

Cyclone Gabrielle occurred less than two weeks after the exceptional North Island Floods for which PERILS has last estimated industry losses of NZ$1.754 billion.

PERILS’ head of APAC Darryl Pidcock commented: “We have observed an increase in the industry loss by 25% since our first loss report. This is a significant increase and mainly driven by an increase in average claims size across residential and commercial property lines. Whilst the damage of the preceding North Island flood was focused on Auckland and surrounding urban areas, Gabrielle’s impact was more widespread and had a greater impact on rural areas.

“New Zealand has to date experienced nearly NZD 3.7 billion in insured losses from the two events, which is by far the highest in recorded history for weather-related events in the region.”

PERILS is net slated to update the figure for Cyclone Gabrielle on 17 August 2023, six months after the event end date.

Did you get value from this story?  Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.