Farmers empty out the gauge and clean up storm damage

A front that crossed through Victoria and NSW has delivered handy rain for some, and damage for others.

A mix of helpful rainfall and damaging weather swept through Victoria and southern NSW late last week and during the weekend to deliver mixed results.

Some farmers have been left celebrating some much needed rainfall. And others have experienced damage from hail and windy conditions.

The Bureau of Meteorology shows significant rainfall of 59mm for the past seven days at Dederang, 51mm at Birchip, 49mm at Wodonga and 36.9mm at Springhurst.

In southern NSW, Jingellic had 49mm, Wagga Wagga, 28.6mm and Tumbarumba 33mm.

Chris Drum from Banyena said 23mm of rain fell at his place and it was fortunate that there was no damaging winds or hail.

“We escaped hailstones, this rain should finish the crops off nicely,” he said.

Jason Mellings, who farms near Warracknabeal, said the front delivered 10mm to 15mm at his place and it was welcome.

“Good rain at this time of the year is vital to securing better results at harvest,” he said.

On Friday afternoon parts of Victoria and southern NSW were lashed by wild storms and the Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe thunderstorm for the regions.

The alert came in the same week that crops were extensively damaged by storms and hail, and rural communities were left without power.

On Sunday there were still power outages due to a high-voltage power line being hit by storms at Broken Hill last week.

Residents were told to prepare for another power outage, due to scheduled maintenance to repair the damage on Wednesday October 23 from 11pm until 5am on October 24.

The impacted towns include Broken Hill, Tibooburra, Wilcannia, Menindee, White Cliffs and several other surrounding communities.

Crop insurance assessor and Riverina farmer Alan Brown said the impact of hail damage throughout the Wimmera in Victoria was dire.

He said farmers in that area had already been battling with dry conditions and would have welcomed the rainfall late last week – but the storms that accompanied the rain brought with it some severe damage.

Storm clouds roll into Ceduna Picture: Andrew Brooks

Storm Cell in Horsham Picture: Lynton Brown Landscape

Storm Cell in Horsham Picture: Lynton Brown Landscape

He said he didn’t hear of any hail in the Riverina, despite the forecasts, but there were still warnings for Friday afternoon and farmers remained on alert.

“We are not out of the woods yet,” he said.

Finley agronomist John Lacy said farmers in his area had welcomed the Thursday night rainfall.

He said 31.5mm fell at his place, and Cobram recorded 36mm.

“This will help wheat crops to finish and we could anticipate some higher yields from the rain,” he said.