Perils has increased its estimate for insured losses from Cyclone Gabrielle by a quarter to $NZ1.93 billion ($1.81 billion) on higher average residential and commercial claims. 

In March, the Swiss-based catastrophe data company’s estimate was $NZ1.54 billion ($1.44 billion). 

“We have observed an increase in the industry loss by 25% since our first loss report. This is a significant increase,” Head of Perils Asia-Pacific Darryl Pidcock said. 

The change was “mainly driven by an increase in average claims size across residential and commercial property lines,” he said. 

New Zealand has clocked up nearly $NZ3.7 billion ($3.47 billion) in insured losses from record floods that struck Auckland in January and the cyclone two weeks later. The combined losses are "by far the highest in recorded history for weather-related events in the region,” Mr Pidcock said.  

Perils calculates the floods caused an industry loss of $NZ1.75 million ($1.65 million) and say they mainly struck urban areas, whereas Gabrielle’s impact was more widespread and had a greater impact on rural areas.  

It impacted a wide area across the North Island in February with extreme rainfall of up to 568mm in 48 hours and wind gusts of up to 146 km/h. The cyclone’s impact was exacerbated by saturated soils from the recent flood event, leading to many landslides damaging property and critical infrastructure.  

Perils will update its estimate of the market loss in August, and Mr Pidcock says that will allow more detailed analysis of both events via an industry footprint with losses broken down by postcodes and property line of business. 

“We believe this will bring considerable value to the industry given the significance of the events,” he said.