Cyclone Kirrily has caused less damage than feared after crossing the Queensland coast between Townsville and Ingham, but insurers have received hundreds of claims and the downgraded tropical low is continuing to contribute to wet weather in the state.

The cyclone came ashore about 10pm on Thursday at category 2 intensity but lost strength and was reclassified as a tropical low by 4am the following day. The system has since moved west through Queensland.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines says winds reached 93kmh in Townsville, bringing down trees and branches and leading to widespread power outages.

“There was some damage reported on property and infrastructure, but at the moment most reports are just of minor damage,” he said in a video update.

The ex-cyclone has brought rainfall and flooding to central and western Queensland and is contributing, along with a trough, to severe weather further south.

“It’s also drawing a deep layer of tropical moisture across much of Queensland and northern NSW as well, which is combining with this lingering trough to bring widespread showers and thunderstorms, potentially severe, and heavy rainfall,” meteorologist Sarah Scully said today. “That is expected to continue right through to Wednesday.”

Suncorp says it had received just over 500 claims as of last night, almost all for home impacts.

Communities in Kirrily’s path were largely spared the worst of the wind and rain as the system downgraded and quickly headed further inland, CEO Steve Johnston says.

“While this means we have seen less damage than expected in the more densely populated coastal communities in north Queensland, we are seeing significant rainfall and storms in southern parts of the state, and we will be closely monitoring the movements of the system over coming days,” he said.

Mr Johnston says that since late November, a series of extreme weather events have hit the east coast and teams are continuing to progress claims across Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

Separately, Suncorp has announced that prior-year reserves were strengthened across several portfolios by a total of $107 million pre-tax in the fiscal first half, reflecting a broad range of external challenges facing the insurance industry.

“We have continued to see inflationary pressures from drivers such as supply chain capacity constraints and higher third-party settlements in motor, and water damage and large fires in our home portfolio,” Mr Johnston said.

The company says fiscal-year underlying margins are expected to be in line with previous guidance around the midpoint of the 10-12% range, with the first half at the lower end of that range, as expected.

Northern Queensland specialist Sure Insurance says it has received just over 400 claims from Kirrily, including for water entry to homes through damaged roofs, tree impacts, frozen food spoilage and downed fences.

Damage has been much less severe than that from Cyclone Jasper and subsequent flooding last month.

RACQ Insurance says it had received 191 claims as of this morning, including 180 for home and contents and 11 for motor.

IAG has received 161 claims, with most for minor property damage and food spoiling. The top areas for claims have included the Townsville suburbs of Kirwan, Kelso and Bushland Beach.

“Our team of assessors and partner builders are currently on the ground securing homes and conducting make-safe repairs,” the insurer’s EGM Claims Luke Gallagher said. “We also have additional resources across our claims team, so we can triage and progress claims from this event as quickly as possible.”

The Australian Reinsurance Pool Corporation says the claims period for Kirrily ended on Sunday at 4am, 48 hours after the cyclone was downgraded.