NSW drought: Dust columns make life hard for regional farmers
Giant columns of swirling dust have been filmed along a regional highway, serving as sad evidence of the brutal conditions NSW farmers are faced with during the worst drought on record. WATCH THE VIDEO.
NSW
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Dust storms are becoming increasingly common across regional NSW as the drought intensifies, wreaking havoc on local towns.
Giant columns of swirling dust move across the dry land quickly picking up dirt and travelling potentially hundreds of kilometres across the drought-stricken state.
Strong winds carry what’s left of farmers’ top soil, needed to grow crops, far away from their paddock and contaminates what little water is left in dams on their properties.
A video of dust whirlwinds along the Castlereagh Highway between Gilgandra and Dunedoo shows dirt rising above the trees and moving across an open field.
NSW Farmers chief executive Peter Arkle said the frequent dust storms were just adding to the burden faced be those on the land.
“The biggest challenge for farmers through this drought has been maintaining ground cover to try and protect their soil,” he said.
“Dust gets into your tractor, it gets into your house, stays on your skin after a while.”
Mr Arkle said he hoped there was a break next year.
“When you see dust storms in the bush or even in the city, that’s often soil from farms,” he said.
“It’s another consequence of drought really and our farmers across the state are being amazingly resilient in what’s unprecedented conditions.”
Forecasters at the Bureau of Meteorology expect dust storms to occur consistently in dry times due to the combination of wind, dry soil, unstable weather systems and an arid climate.
A huge dust storm paralysed the state’s far west in September with residents in Broken Hill forced to take shelter indoor as visibility outside dropped to about a metre.
Months later the storms are moving further east meaning regions previously not impacted by the storms could soon be.