Flood risk needs urgent, joined-up plan, says NZ’s largest insurer

Flood risk needs urgent, joined-up plan, says NZ’s largest insurer
Westport is facing its fourth catastrophic flood in 12 months. (Image: Getty)
Pattrick Smellie
A joint initiative by the public and private sectors needs to get underway immediately to identify where climate change-related flood risks are greatest to stop new development in those places and invest in flood protection.“We are not retreating those from any areas,” the chief executive of Insurance Group Australia (IAG), Amanda Whiting, told BusinessDesk in an interview coinciding with the fourth major flooding event in Westport in the last 12 months.“But there could come a time if we don’t act that we could need to r...

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