• 350 people require emergency shelter.
• The council declared 69 houses uninhabitable.
• Four people were killed in flash floods.

Flood-ravaged Authorities in New Zealand’s main city, Auckland, predicted more heavy rain in the coming days, as insurers calculated the costs of what appears to be the country’s most expensive weather disaster ever.

Four people were killed in flash floods and landslides that devastated Auckland over the last three days due to record rainfall. Auckland remains in a state of emergency. The Waitomo district south of Auckland has been declared safe.

Flights into and out of Auckland Airport continue to be delayed and canceled, beaches throughout the 1.6 million-person city are closed, and all Auckland schools will stay closed until February 7.

“There has been very significant damage across Auckland,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told state-owned television station TVNZ on Monday. “Obviously there were a number of homes damaged by flooding but also extensive earth movements.”

Currently, roughly 350 people require emergency shelter, he added.

LOOMING CLOUDS

Metservice predicts more heavy rains will fall on the already saturated city late Tuesday.

“We are expecting more severe weather,” Auckland Emergency Management duty controller Rachel Kelleher said at a press briefing.

Overnight Monday, fire and emergency services responded to 30 calls, including a landslide caused by a carport sliding down a hill.

The council declared 69 houses uninhabitable and barred residents from entering them. Another 300 properties were judged vulnerable, with access restricted to certain sections for short periods of time.

Because of the La Nina weather trend, the north of New Zealand’s North Island is experiencing more rain than usual.

Auckland has already received more than eight times its usual January rainfall and 40% of its annual rainfall, according to the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).

INSURERS FACE HEFTY BILL

The clean-up costs are expected to exceed the NZ$97 million ($63 million) bill for flooding on the West Coast in 2021, but they will be far less than the estimated NZ$31 billion insured costs of two major earthquakes in Christchurch in 2010-2011, according to Insurance Council of New Zealand spokesperson Christian Judge.

So far, Insurance Australia Group’s (IAG.AX) New Zealand divisions have received over 5,000 claims, and Suncorp Group’s (SUN.AX) Vero and AA Insurance Brands have received over 3,000 claims. Tower (TWR.NZ) in New Zealand reported receiving approximately 1,900 claims.

“With the event still unfolding and clients identifying damage to their property,” IAG says, “the number of claims is projected to climb significantly in the coming days.”

Economists predict that the recovery and rebuilding process will boost inflationary pressures in New Zealand because automobiles and household items will need to be replaced, and construction work will grow to repair or rebuild dwellings and infrastructure damaged by the flooding.

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