New Zealand copes with its second major flood in less than six months. Over 250mm of rain fell in 48 hours (17 & 18 July) in Bay of Plenty region of the North Island, claiming two lives, swamping farmland, causing major slips and mudslides and forcing nearly 2,000 people from their homes. During the deluge the region was also hit by more than 100 earthquakes, adding to landslips and other flood damage. It is reported that up to 3,000 dwellings and 10,000 people are affected by the event.

McLarens Young International New Zealand (MYINZ) responded immediately to the event flying an initial team of 5 into the affected area on the 19 July. The team is headed by Tony Jarrett, NZ Catastrophe Manager, and is based in our Whakatane office. Over the next few days the team doubled to 10 and additional support staff were deployed to cope with an excess of 300 claims to date. The Catastrophe team employed new operational procedures to cope with the claim volumes. New ClaimCare Global functionality was used to provide "remote" data entry. This meant that offices throughout New Zealand could provide "on-line" data entry resources rather that flying staff into the Whakatane office.

At this stage the team is coping well; field reports are being captured on customised "Preliminary Loss Advice" forms and to further speed up the data capture process, support staff are 'phoning adjusters in the field for the information which is then entered into ClaimCare enabling MYINZ to provide Insures with accurate claims data daily.

Australasian CEO, Kerry Gupwell, says the new procedures were adopted after the Lower North Island event and have worked extremely well. We are also very proud of the team's efforts and commitment to the local community.


Further support from McLarens Young International remains on standby as required.