A tornado that ripped through the town of Penola in southeast SA last week isn’t expected to register on the scale of major insurance events.

The State Emergency Service (SES) estimates the tornado’s path was 50 metres wide and 3km long, and while no one was injured by the event about half of Penola’s businesses have been affected. Four buildings were destroyed and 60 sustained damage.

An IAG spokesman says the company has received less than 10 claims related to the tornado, and a Suncorp spokesman also reported “minimal claims”.

The SA Government has committed $250,000 to clean-up efforts in the town.

SES Acting Chief Officer Matt Maywald says the tornado showed how quickly damage could be caused by extreme weather.

“In a relatively short space of time we have seen in Penola hundreds of fallen trees, buildings being unroofed and even destroyed, which is devastating for the community,” he said. “In a typical year in SA storms and floods account for well in excess of 50% of the overall economic costs of all natural catastrophes.”