Suncorp says costs from this month’s fire, hailstorm and rain disasters are expected to be capped at $300 million following reinsurance recoveries, amid an “unprecedented” start to the summer catastrophe season.

The company has received more than 25,000 claims from hailstorms that struck Victoria, the ACT and NSW, and another 1400 claims due to heavy rain in Queensland and NSW on January 17-18.

It says in an update today that more claims from the two weather events are expected to be lodged and processed over coming weeks.

Along with the bushfires, the company has declared three natural disaster events since the beginning of January, adding to losses in the first half of its financial year.

“This has been an unprecedented start to the bushfire and storm season in Australia,” Suncorp CEO Steve Johnston said.

“We continue to mobilise our customer support teams on the ground where they’re needed the most and we have also increased the capacity of our contact centres to manage the increased volume of calls from our customers across the east coast.”

The company has previously flagged a cost of $145 million in the December half for year-end bushfires in Victoria, NSW and Tasmania, with a further $75-$105 million impact this month. That’s in addition to smaller costs for other bushfires this season.

Suncorp confirmed first-half natural disaster costs at $519 million and says reinsurance protection “provides confidence” that the full-year net costs should remain within an $820 million allowance.

The company is one of the biggest buyers of reinsurance in the global market. It put in place strengthened reinsurance for this year and says it will provide more details on the expected interactions of its programs when it reports half-year financial results on February 11.

Suncorp also says reserve releases for the first half will be $50-70 million, compared with $172 million a year earlier, due to a review of the bodily injury portfolio and a large single claim, as well as natural volatility in short-tail books in Australia and New Zealand, with a modest strengthening across a range of prior events.

Full-year reserve releases are expected to be above 1.5% of net earned premium, compared with an expected 1.3% in the first-half.

Bushfires are continuing to burn as hot weather returns and as governments look ahead to steps that can be taken to lessen the impact of future disasters.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian today announced an independent inquiry will look at the causes of this summer’s fires, as well as preparation and responses.

The inquiry will be led by former NSW Police deputy commissioner Dave Owens and Independent Planning Commission Chairman and former NSW chief scientist Mary O’Kane.

The six-month inquiry will start within days and will accept submissions from the public.