A severe hailstorm that battered Melbourne homes, cars and businesses two weeks ago is set to cost the industry more than $500 million.

According to the Insurance Council of Australia, insurers have received 79,000 claims following the March 6 storm with estimated insured losses of $491 million.

Suncorp has significant exposure to the event through leading brands GIO, AAMI, Vero and Apia.

It has received about 35,000 claims following the storms, mostly comprising damage to homes and vehicles with a smaller number of commercial claims.

The insurer earlier confirmed the storm claims will exceed its maximum $200 million event retention under terms of its property catastrophe reinsurance.

“Our brands have been sharing resources and suppliers wherever possible to ensure our response is as efficient as possible,” Suncorp Group CEO Patrick Snowball said last week.

It’s been a busy month for the Queensland-based insurer, with earlier flooding in southern parts of the state resulting in 1600 claims at an estimated cost of between $25-30 million.

IAG earlier announced it has received more than 24,000 claims which will trigger its maximum reinsurance event retention of $135 million.

Commercial arm CGU has received more than 4500 claims from the Melbourne event, mostly for damage to homes and vehicles. Allianz has meanwhile processed more than 8300 claims valued at around $58 million.

A spokesman for commercial insurer Zurich said its exposure was “not particularly significant”.

Calliden Group has received more than 1000 claims, worth $6.5 million. The net cost to Calliden is around $2 million.