The country's largest insurer IAG says building in flood prone areas has to stop.
IAG has released a three-part plan to try speed up efforts to reduce flood risk from rivers.
It says there have been 10 major floods in Aotearoa in the past two years with insured losses of around $400 million. But the wider economic and social costs are into the billions.
The company's chief executive Amanda Whiting says the current deluge affecting Nelson-Tasman and also the West Coast, for the fourth time in a year, is just awful for residents.
