“We're really feeling for people across the country, particularly in the upper parts of the South Island, who have been hit by recent weather events,” says Jacqui McIntosh, Head of Claims Strategic Operations at FMG.
“We have a team on the ground who are assessing damage, we’re contacting clients in the region, and you’ll see us at community events if you want to have a chat.”
The region’s first weather event at the end of June, resulted in over 500 claims for FMG. It's early days in the clean-up from the storm on 12 and 13 July , but we are anticipating a similar amount of claims – with many clients impacted by both events. As at 18 July, we have 900 claims with an expected cost of $10 to $15 million for the two events combined.
“I’ve been out to visit clients on their properties and talked with people in the community – the impact experienced by farmers and growers in the region is significant with a second round of clean-ups underway.”
“Certainly, it brings back some memories of the sort of damage we saw from Cyclone Gabrielle. There's quite a lot of silt around, there's a lot of damage to growing structures and fencing. As with Gabrielle, we are seeing the loss of effective hectares on farms, hops and horticultural land.”
Rural Support Trust is coordinating efforts and providing support to local farmers and growers. Farmstrong’s Getting Through website hosts a wealth of resources for helping people with the longer-term recovery from extreme weather events.
FMG is here to support our rural communities through these tough times. If you haven’t been in touch already to make a claim, you can do this through FMG Connect or call us on 0800 366 466.
