Storms and Floods

As the largest general insurer in New Zealand, we’ve seen our fair share of natural hazards. We’ve got the expertise and experience to get you back on your feet.

Stay safe and informed during a storm or flood

In most cases, MetService will issue a weather warning for storms, wind or heavy rainfall. If severe weather is forecasted:

  • Secure outdoor items (e.g. trampolines, furniture).
  • If at risk of flooding, move valuables, appliances and furniture off the floor.
  • Park your vehicles undercover or away from large trees. If at risk of flooding, move vehicles to higher ground.
  • Avoid floodwater and always use protective gear. 

For more safety tips, visit Civil Defence > what to do during a storm.

Remember: the safety of you and your household is your number one priority, so don’t worry about your claim – it can wait. If there’s an alert in your area, stay safe, informed, and follow advice from Civil Defence and local authorities. 

Making a claim

Once safe, give us a call to start your claim, or lodge it online and we will contact you with next steps. It’s likely we’ll see a high volume of calls which may mean longer than normal wait times. If you have a broker, speak to them first and they’ll help you get started. 

If you have home insurance with us, you can make a Natural Hazards Cover (NHCover) claim through us too – we’ll manage that on your behalf. 

Claim prioritisation and urgent support

We prioritise customers with unliveable homes or those in vulnerable situations. If you need urgent help or additional support, let us know when lodging your claim.

Things you should do once it’s safe

Whether you’ve made your claim or not, there are some things you can do to make your home safe and dry if you’re able to. 

  1. Safety first: If water has entered your home, turn the power off at the mains and have an electrician check the power supply before turning it back on. It’s best to treat all flood water as blackwater (water contaminated with sewage), so stay safe by wearing heavy duty gloves, boots, and a face mask or avoid it altogether.

  2. Snap the damage: Check your property for damage. Photos are important if you need to make a claim, so take them as you go.

  3. Mark the flood levels: When it’s safe to enter the property, use a permanent ink pen to make a small mark on the wall at the maximum height of the flood water. Do this in every room affected by flooding.

  4. Wet carpet removal: We’ll arrange removal of wet carpet for you.  However, if you’d like to get started and it’s safe to do so, you’re welcome to remove the wet or flood damaged carpet yourself. Keep a small square of both the carpet and underlay to help us with the replacement, before throwing it out. The cost of disposing your carpet and underlay is covered within your sum insured, so remember to keep those receipts.

  5. Spoiled food: You should throw away food that any power outages or flooding has spoiled – just take photos, note them down, then clean your fridge or freezer to prevent any further damage.

  6. Removing damaged items: Clean up what you can to prevent further damage and, if you’re able to do so, remove all the contents of the affected rooms outside, under cover, or in a well-ventilated space. Until we’ve assessed your claim, only dispose of spoiled food or soft furnishings (such as mattresses, material couches and bedding) - just try to take photos and make a note before throwing things away. Many items can be cleaned or repaired.

  7. Preparing for assessment: Before the assessor visits, prepare your home by moving contents and furniture from the affected room, if you can and if it’s practical to do so. This allows for the builder to get stuck into the removal of flood-damaged materials like carpet or floor coverings, wall lining, insulation, and cabinetry.

  8. Temporary repairs: You can do temporary 'make safe' repairs to make your home safe and weathertight, such as boarding up broken windows. Just try to take photos before you do so. Where possible, contact us before you engage a tradesperson or make any non-urgent repairs.

  9. Prevent further damage: Check for any visible damage to the roof, windows, and exterior walls including broken or loose tiles, shingles, or bricks and take photos. Take steps to organise repair or prevent further damage where possible for example, repairing a loose tile on the roof to stop further water damage. 

Check out the factsheets and videos below for more information on managing claims for flood, hail and severe weather damage.

More information about storm and flood claims

This information is a useful guide but is not intended to replace your policy wording. Remember to double-check your policy documents and talk to us if you’re ever uncertain.

Find additional FAQs about claims

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  • We’ll appoint an assessor to review your claim, assess the damage either in person or remotely, and agree with you on the scope and cost to repair it, this is referred to as ’Scope of Works’.

  • Depending on your property and damage, we might need to bring in specialists like engineers, repairers, and builders, which can make your assessment take a little longer. If your home needs immediate restoration activity, such as being sanitised, stripped and dried, the assessor will discuss and arrange this with you.

  • Once the Scope of Works is complete, a member of our claims team will be in touch to discuss your settlement options with you. In most cases, we’ll settle claims as a lump sum cash payment so you can get started on your repairs or rebuild.

  • For repairs, the repairer will get in touch with you directly to discuss start dates. They’ll make sure it’s at a time that works for you and consider availability of any materials needed for your repair.

  • If a local authority (such as a government agency, Police, Fire and Emergency, or Civil Defence) has asked you to evacuate, and your policy covers you for temporary accommodation, you can go ahead and arrange a place to stay. In these situations, cover will apply regardless of whether your home is damaged or not – you'll just need to pay your excess.

  • It’s up to you to arrange your temporary accommodation. Just let us know your choice so we can ensure it meets the terms specified in your policy wording. It’s important to note any temporary accommodation agreement made is held between you and the accommodation provider. In most cases your policy will outline that the accommodation must be of ‘reasonable’ value, so it’s good to check reasonable market rents in your area.

  • If your home or belongings suffer more damage after you’ve been evacuated, and you have multiple claims in the same name, with the same brand, and insured with the same address you won’t need to pay another excess. This is covered under “one incident, one excess”. 

Cover for fallen trees depends on your policy wording. As a general guide, our policies don’t cover trees themselves; but you may be covered if a fallen tree has damaged your insured structures (cars, buildings, fences, special/recreational features) included or listed in your policy. In these situations, we’ll simply remove the sections of the tree required to enable safe repairs – and you’ll arrange the tree’s disposal.

Here are some common questions and answers as a general guide. Note: for the purpose of these scenarios, the term “property” below refers to any insured car, building, fence, special or recreational feature (such as a swimming pool, bridge, or tennis court) that’s included in your policy.

  1. A tree has fallen on my property – am I covered?
    If the fallen tree has damaged your insured property, we’ll cover the cost of repairing the damage as part of your claim, including removing specific sections of the tree required to enable safe repairs. You’ll then need to arrange and pay for the tree’s disposal.

  2. Will you dispose of the tree?
    We don’t cover the cost of disposing the tree; you will need to arrange this.

  3. A tree has fallen over on the lawn – am I covered? 
    If the tree has not damaged any insured property, the costs of cutting, moving, or disposing of the tree will not be covered within your claim. You will need to organise its removal at your own cost.

  4. A tree has partly fallen against my house, but it hasn’t caused any damage – am I covered?
    If there is no damage to the house, then the cost of removing the tree will not be included in your claim. You will need to take reasonable steps to remove the tree yourself to protect your property and prevent future damage. If you discover damage after removing the tree, please let us know.

  5. One of my trees is now unsafe and is at risk of falling – what should I do?
    If the tree is in a dangerous or unsafe condition, you’ll need to take reasonable steps to remove the tree yourself to protect your property and prevent further damage.

  6. What happens if a tree has fallen on a boundary fence?
    If the boundary fence is shared between neighbouring properties, then each owner will be responsible for a share of the total cost to remove the tree and repair the damage. Generally, where a fence is shared, we would cash settle your claim based on:
    • your share of the cost to remove the section of the tree from the fence (but not its disposal); and
    • your share of the costs required to fix the fence.

You would then need to work with your neighbour to organise its replacement or repair.

Note: there may be additional cover for fallen trees under a Material Damage or Business Interruption policy or Home policy provided through brokers such as NZI Distinction Home. In these cases, get in touch (or talk to your broker if you have one) about what cover might apply.

Typically, NHCover will cover the following for your insured residential land*, up to the ‘land cap’ – the maximum value that can be paid on your NHCover land claim under the Natural Hazards Insurance Act 2023:

  • The cost to remove silt that is 15mm or deeper from your insured residential land 
  • The cost to remove the debris inundation from your insured residential land 
  • The cost to repair land scour/evacuation of land from your insured residential land. 

Generally, in open areas where the build-up of silt is minimal (less than 15mm deep), the grass should grow through relatively quickly and you mightn’t need to remove the silt. It will gradually disappear in the weeks following the floods, assisted by the effects of sun, wind and rain. If you have any concerns about contamination on your property, or any health or safety concerns, contact your local council in the first instance.

Some important things to remember:

  • Take photos of any damage, silt, or debris before you clean up.
  • Check your council's webpage for complete guidelines on their silt disposal requirements.
  • NHCover does not cover your own time or resource to remove silt or storm debris. Make sure to keep any receipts and invoices for other costs you incur, which will be considered as part of your claim.
  • If you are unsure about what is or isn’t covered by your NHCover, or how to deal with it, it is best to wait for one of our assessors to review your property before you get started. 

*NHCover is limited to certain areas of residential land within the land holding of your insured property, including the land under your home and/or any outbuildings covered by NHCover (such as a shed or a garage), the land within eight metres of your home and outbuildings and the land under or supporting your main accessway, up to 60 metres from your home.

Having windows, doors and skylights open as much as possible to increase ventilation while you’re at home will help to prevent mould from growing. If mould starts to appear, you can use domestic mould-specific cleaning products to help remove it. If you have a medical condition or you’re in a vulnerable circumstance, please contact us to discuss alternatives.

Before your assessor visits, all contents and furniture need to be moved from the affected rooms outside, undercover, or to a well-ventilated area to dry. If you are unable to, we can provide support to move these items. 

Contents

Where able, you can complete a ‘Loss Schedule’, listing the items that’ve been damaged by the storm or flood. It helps to include the item’s age, manufacturers’ names, model numbers, purchase dates and purchase prices where you can. Not every situation requires a Loss Schedule – if you’ve experienced widespread damage, we’ll discuss alternatives with you.

We'll be in touch with the next steps, but if you have any questions about your claim or your Loss Schedule, please get in touch.

This depends on the nature and severity of the damage at your property, the damaged contents to be disposed of, and even your location. If an event has affected many households in the area, some councils will arrange a skip bin, but this approach varies between councils.

Reasonable costs to dispose of, and remove, contents damaged by the event are generally reimbursed as part of your contents claim. Remember, until we’ve had a chance to assess your contents claim, only throw away spoiled food or soft furnishings, take photos and make a note of these on your Loss Schedule before you do so.

Vehicle

  • If your vehicle received damage from a storm, we’ll refer you to our Motor Assessor or to a local repairer, who’ll review your claim, assess the damage, and complete the repairs, if able to do so.

  • If your vehicle is flood damaged, we will arrange for your vehicle to be towed to assess the damage. If it is able to be repaired, we will arrange for the repairs to be completed.

  • If significant flood damage means your vehicle is unable to be repaired, we will contact you about the next steps to settle your claim. 

If your car is badly damaged, or if water has entered your vehicle, please don’t drive it. Water-damaged vehicles can be dangerous because they tend to lose function suddenly, and air bags can deploy without warning. Instead, let us know immediately.

  • Remember to remove any personal items from the vehicle before it’s towed.

  • Make sure your vehicle is locked securely with no keys left inside ‐ our tow team will get in touch to pick them up instead.

  • If your personal items were damaged inside your vehicle, feel free to throw away any soft items or spoiled food, but remember to photograph and note them on your loss schedule first. If you have contents insurance, we’ll discuss with you whether you’re covered for any items that were damaged while inside your vehicle.

  • If water entered your vehicle, it’s best to treat it as blackwater (i.e. contaminated with sewage), so make sure you stay safe by wearing heavy duty gloves, boots, and a face mask before removing your items.

Helpful links

Loss Schedule

What to do in a natural emergency

Reducing the impacts of storms

Reducing the impacts of floods

Other events