Insurance Council says the amounts claimed so far for the Auckland flood and Cyclone Gabrielle have now topped the amounts claimed for the Kaikoura earthquake

New Zealand's washout of a summer is now officially bigger than Kaikoura.

According to the Insurance Council (ICNZ) the claims for damage caused by the Auckland Anniversary Weekend flood and Cyclone Gabrielle have now topped the total amount claimed for the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake.

And the ICNZ says as at the end of march insurers were paying out claims for the two weather events at the rate of $9.5 million a day.

The latest official round up of figures issued by ICNZ show that claims for the two events combined now stand at 96,586 claims worth $2.47 billion.

Insurers have so far paid out 14,124 claims out of 96,586, (15%)*. On 30 March, insurers had put $396 million back into communities and were making payments at a rate of just over $9.5 million per day.

"While insurers have made a good start on settling claims, it’s important to remain realistic about the rate of settlement from now on," ICNZ chief executive, Tim Grafton said.

"Many motor and contents claims are straightforward to settle, re-lining house can take months, full rebuilds over a year. The most complex claims, typically with land issues, can take longer still.

"Insurers are in this for the long haul."

Grafton said the two climate disasters combined now surpassed the 45,000 claims worth $2.27 billion for the Kaikoura earthquake and are worth more than 80% of all general insurance claims paid across the country last year ($3.077 billion).

He said "a good start" has been made on settling the more straightforward motor and contents claims. Insurers are also making progress with those homes that had flood water through them and that are now stepping through the strip-out, dry-out, re-line, and re-decoration process.

For the Auckland Anniversary Weekend event, 7,305 claims out of 51,936 claims, (14%)* have been settled with pay-outs totalling just over $248 million out of $1.308 billion (19%).

For Cyclone Gabrielle, 6,819 claims out of 44,650 (15.3%) have been settled with pay-outs totalling just over $147 million out of $1.155 billion (12.7%).

Hawke’s Bay now accounts for 14,707 out of 44,650 Gabrielle claims (32.9%), but nearly $593 million out of $1.155 billion (51.3%) of claims by value.

Insurers are also focused on the more significant, complex and expensive claims which will take longer to settle.

"There is typically a small proportion of high value claims that require a lot of work to settle," Grafton said.

"These can be complex and time consuming to deal with and it’s important to be transparent with everybody about that. Insurers are in this for the long haul and will stand by their customers until the job is done."

*ICNZ issued these figures as corrections to an earlier version of its news release.