New Zealand insurers will be watching with interest this week as businesses in the North Island region of Tauranga meet to assess their response to the devastating May 18 floods.

Flood insurance is widely available in NZ, and the Insurance Council of New Zealand says claims filed for damage from the flood totalled $NZ28.5 million ($26.6 million).

Hosted by the Sustainable Business Network (SBN), the Tauranga meeting will be an interactive forum, and will give affected businesses the opportunity to discuss the flood’s impact, their response, and future strategies.

SBN Regional Manager Calum Revfem says that the severity and frequency of such floods are increasing, and that it’s important to “capture the knowledge of how businesses prepared, coped and recovered, so we can use the information to do a better job next time”.

IAG-NZ – an active campaigner for flood insurance reforms – will be involved in the meeting.