Rural communities in South Otago are still dealing with extensive damage from an October windstorm that felled an estimated 150,000 tonnes of trees across the Clutha district, highlighting common exclusions in many farm insurance policies and adding to wider pressure on the country’s claims and disaster response systems.
On their 220-hectare sheep and beef farm near Clydevale, Holly and Todd McCammon are balancing day-to-day operations with a long-running recovery effort more than three months after the storm. Shelter belts across the property tipped over on Oct. 23, 2025, tearing out kilometres of fencing, blocking their driveway, and leaving large volumes of debris scattered throughout paddocks. The couple said no people or animals were injured, but the event has resulted in a year or more of additional work. “It was just so much destruction in such a short amount of time,” Holly McCammon said, as reported by RNZ. “The scale of it – it was a shock looking around... knowing how much it would take to clean up,” Todd McCammon said.
The McCammons estimate they have spent about $25,000 so far on repairs and believe they are “probably halfway.” Like many farmers in the area, their insurance does not respond to fallen trees or fencing damage, leaving them to meet most of the costs themselves. They have also decided not to replant eucalyptus shelter belts on the property. While they have been able to replace some fences themselves, the largest logs remain on the ground as they wait for specialist equipment and skills. “There’s so many contractors around to do it, so you just got to wait until you can get one,” Todd McCammon said. The situation has prompted discussions between insurers, brokers, and farm clients about storm exposure on shelter belts and forestry, how fencing and other farm infrastructure are treated under rural policies, and the level of residual financial risk where timber is not insured or cannot be salvaged.
Balclutha-based contractor Mike Hurring said demand for clean-up services continues to build as more landowners seek to address windfall damage. “We’ve got 150,000 tonnes of logs we’re cleaning up at this stage... and that’s just private properties, not commercial,” said Hurring, of Mike Hurring Logging & Contracting, as reported by RNZ. His teams have completed work at 25 properties, have six jobs under way, and 87 still in the queue. Hurring is seeking another 10 to 15 staff and is prioritising farms where timber can still be recovered before it deteriorates. Trees that remain attached to their root plates may retain some commercial value, but broken stems are degrading.
Hurring said the backlog is prompting some landowners to undertake complex work themselves. “There’s been some horror stories. I’ve heard of farmers being flung around paddocks from logs they’ve cut off, [and] chainsaws getting ripped out of people’s hands and thrown over their heads. I haven’t heard of any serious injuries but there’s been a lot of close calls,” he said. His message to property owners is: “If you think that something looks dangerous, then it is dangerous.” Insurers say such incidents raise questions around liability exposure, health and safety obligations, and the potential for injury claims arising some time after the initial wind event.
Clutha District Council’s storm-related bill is also increasing. Response manager Sharon Jenkinson said the cost of repairing damaged community amenities has reached $991,000, with some parks and public spaces expected to take months to fully clear. “We’re looking at ways to help our district and get labour units here to help, especially in the rural community with cleanup, fencing, safety, and issues with property damage,” Jenkinson told RNZ. Prolonged power outages in parts of the district following the October storm have triggered a reassessment of local emergency planning and continuity arrangements. Jenkinson said the scale of damage from the wind event was unlike anything previously experienced in the area, prompting closer attention to orange wind warnings and other severe weather alerts.
The council plans to increase access to generators and battery-operated communications equipment to support future responses. A mayoral relief fund remains open, with 21 people having applied for assistance so far. The fund is still receiving donations. Clutha district councillor and sheep farmer Simon McAtamney said his 540-hectare property near Clydevale has thousands of fallen trees in difficult-to-access forestry blocks. After three months, much of the broken timber is no longer suitable for higher-value uses and will be written off. “We’ve still got quite a bit of standing. It’s just going to be very expensive to log it in the future because of that broken stuff,” McAtamney said. He expects fencing and forestry repairs on the farm to take several years and to be staged according to priority. He said the storm has altered local views on hazard risk. “In this part of the world, we always thought we’d lived in a pretty benign sort of climate when it comes to extreme events – but we’ve been proven wrong,” he said.
While Clutha addresses the legacy of October’s windstorm, severe weather in January has affected the upper North Island, extending the national hazard and claims environment. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has advised that landslide and flooding dangers remain after heavy rain in Northland, Tairāwhiti Gisborne, Coromandel, and Bay of Plenty. NEMA’s director of civil defence emergency management, John Price, said impacts will continue for some days, with flooding damage, road closures, and an ongoing risk of further landslides. “The dangers posed by landslides and flooding still exist. Put safety first, and don’t take any chances. Floodwater is dangerous as it often contains debris and is contaminated, which can make you sick and cause harm. Be careful around floodwater and when cleaning up after flooding,” Price said.
Price noted that landslides can occur without warning, even after weather conditions appear to have improved, as saturated and unstable land reacts to further rain, wind, or minor earthquakes. He urged people to stay away from existing landslides until authorities have inspected them and to watch for warning signs such as new cracks in the ground or structures, tilting trees and fences, or sticking doors and windows. “If you think a landslide is going to happen in your area, evacuate immediately. Your safety is your number one priority. The danger isn’t always visible but it is real,” he said.
The Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Scheme (IFSO Scheme) has warned that the recent severe weather in Northland, Tairāwhiti Gisborne, Coromandel, and Bay of Plenty will result in high volumes of claims and likely delays for policyholders. Insurance & Financial Services Ombudsman Karen Stevens said the situation will be stressful for many customers and that they should anticipate wait times while the full impact of the event is assessed. “Contacting insurers online is the quickest way to make a claim, helping people avoid long phone queues, which are common after major weather events. Insurers will prioritise the most urgent and cases first, such as those with unliveable homes or those in vulnerable situations,” Stevens said.
Stevens said delays often stem from the number of claims, restricted access for assessors, and demand for specialist trades. Similar bottlenecks were seen after Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland floods, and insurers are now applying lessons learned, including refined triage processes and clearer timeframes for customers. Under the Fair Insurance Code, insurers must provide clear information about claim progress, usually with updates every 20 business days or at another agreed interval. For insurance professionals, the combination of Clutha’s windstorm experience and the upper North Island’s flooding and landslide events is prompting a closer look at rural and property wordings, the clarity of exclusions and limits communicated to clients, and coordination with emergency management and resolution services as recovery and claims handling continue through 2026.
