Te arotake tūraru mō ngā papanoho kua hē i te āwhā Risk assessments for storm-affected properties

Last updated: 21 August 2025

On 1 May 2023, the New Zealand Government released an Update on assessment of affected properties post cyclone and flooding outlining the three property risk categories.

A risk assessment helps us determine:

• how likely it is that future severe weather events would pose a risk to life
• if there is a way this risk could be managed so it is safe for people to live there.

This assessment gives us the information needed to apply a risk category to your property.

The order we assess individual properties depends on:

• if the property was affected by flood, landslide or both
• the extent of storm damage
• the location of the property and the possible interventions and improvements that can be made in the general area
• if the occupants have been displaced from their home
• the complexity of the engineering assessment
• when the homeowner submitted their assessment request form.

For more information, visit Step-by-step guide to a flood risk assessment for a series of short videos explaining the flood risk assessment process.

When our engineers meet with property owners on a site visit, they will:

• discuss the information provided in the flooding and landslide registration form
• fill any gaps in their knowledge about how the property flooded
• walk around with the owners to check where the damage occurred to help them identify the right solution for each property.

For more on this process, check our video, A brief guide to site assessments for flood affected properties.

There are various factors involved in assigning a property categorisation following a site visit. These are explained in a helpful video.

Registrations for property risk assessments closed on 30 September 2024, and we are no longer accepting new homeowners into the programme.

The risk assessment gives us the information we need to apply a risk category to your property.

A risk assessment has two parts:

• An initial desk assessment based on existing information and any information you provide. The desktop assessments involve information collected from property files, photographs, published geological information and LiDAR An acronym which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. data to calculate slope angles. This gives an indication of whether your property is likely to be low or high risk. It also tells us if a site assessment is needed.
• An on-site assessment to look at your physical property. This will be required if we think your home could be high risk.

The site assessments decide if there are changes that can be made at your property or in the surrounding area to reduce the future risk to the home of serious flooding or landslides.

Read our summary for the geotechnical and flood risk assessment process.

​Our geotechnical team uses Australian Geomechanics Society Landslip Risk Management methodology (AGS2007) for assessment of landslide affected properties.