Almost 20,000 claims have been lodged after storms ripped through Victoria on February 13 and 14 at an estimated cost of $104 million.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says about 85% of claims relate to home and contents, reflecting the heavy rainfall, flooding and strong winds.

It says about 9170 claims for damaged contents, totalling $10 million, have been lodged, with nearly 30% of them closed.

ICA earlier declared the storms a “significant event”, triggering a heightened level of support for customers dealing with damage and power outages.

“These storms caused extensive damage across Victoria and show us just how quickly and unexpectedly extreme weather events can occur,” ICA CEO Andrew Hall said.

“The significant number of claims reflects the severity of the event, and insurers are working hard to support customers impacted.”

Earlier this week, ICA confirmed the claims cost of the Christmas and New Year floods and Cyclone Jasper has reached $1.2 billion, with 28% of cases already closed.

Both events were declared insurance catastrophes.