Potato, orange and grape crops destroyed

Crops were hit with millions of dollars worth of damage in last week’s storms. See the latest.

Ballarat was hit by heavy rain and flooding on Wednesday, will falls of more than 100mm recorded. Picture: Twitter

Crops have been damaged by hail in Central Victoria and the Riverina as Victoria and NSW come to the end of three days of storms and flash flooding.

Creswick potato grower Rodney Guthrie said his business had been “devastated” on Thursday after a wild storm dumped hail and 125mm of rain on his property in 1.5 hours.

“We got a double whammy. We got a hailstorm just before the rain. It’s done extensive damage,” he said.

Mr Guthrie had 90 acres of potatoes hit by the storm. He said hail broke the stems of plants that were about a third of the way through their growing period.

“All the stems are torn to shreds or broken in half. I’ve never seen a crop destroyed so bad. I don’t know if it will come back,” he said.

The crop was uninsured, and Mr Guthrie said the damage would be a “major set back”.

The storm also stripped his lucerne crop, and he said a lot of wheat and canola in the district were “destroyed”.

Stock and station agents TB White and Sons director Leo White said he received 210mm of rain on his property near Creswick on Thursday. He estimated the damage to growers in the affected area would reach millions of dollars.

In the NSW Riverina, Griffith Citrus Growers president Vito Mancini said oranges and wine grapes had been badly damaged by Friday’s storm.

“Hail up to 50mm discs seem to have gone through, slicing up the trees and the fruit,” he said.

He said growers were still assessing the extent of the damage, but there appeared to be a “full loss” of citrus on some properties near Lake Wyangan and some wine grape growers were also reporting full losses.

He said the storm stretched in a band from the Lake Wyangan to the Beelbangera districts north of Griffith.

The storm came in the middle of this season’s Valencia orange harvest, which Mr Mancini said was the “best quality (he’d) seen in years”.

The hailstones tore large holes in ripe fruit and also damaged small, green “fruitlets” – the start of next year’s crop.

Mr Mancini estimated the value of the losses could be in the millions of dollars.

The damaged area appeared to be “a couple of hundred metres wide” but had stretched for “a couple of kilometres”, he said.

The Griffith area received a dumping of 54.6mm of rain on Friday, taking its total so far this month to 66mm.

A NSW SES spokesperson said the agency had received over 1150 call outs between Wednesday and Friday for issues ranging from downed trees to damaged roofs.

Wagga Wagga had been the worst hit area in NSW with 310 calls for assistance, the spokesperson said.

In Victoria, the SES responded to 545 requests for assistance in the 24 hours to Friday, with teams attending to building damage, flooding and downed trees.

The Wyndham and Portland areas were among the worst affected.

Friday 2pm: Severe weather warning for central and southern NSW

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned severe thunderstorms developing across NSW may result in heavy rain, damaging winds and flash flooding.

Warnings are in place for Braidwood, Goulburn, Yass, Condobolin, Young and West Wyalong in central NSW.

Flood warnings are in place for the following catchments:

• Orara River – minor flooding
• Upper Nepean River – minor flooding
• Hawkesbury and Lower Nepean Rivers – minor flooding
• Namoi River – minor flooding
• Castlereagh River – minor to moderate flooding
• Orange, Molong and Bell River – minor flooding
• Macquarie River d/s Burrendong Dam – minor flooding
• Bogan River – minor flooding
• Belubula River – minor to moderate flooding
• Mandagery Creek – minor to moderate flooding
• Tumut River – minor flooding

Friday 10am: Power still out across central and western Victoria

Hundreds of Victorians spent the night without power on Thursday after storms and lightening lashed the state.

On Friday morning, 2475 customers remained without power, according to energy provider Powercor.

The hardest-hit areas were around Ballarat, which was hit by storms and flash flooding on Wednesday.

Dozens of outages were also listed around Shepparton, in the state’s north, Hamilton, in the west, and Bungador, in the south west.

Thursday 4.45pm: NSW SES attends to hundreds of calls for help

The NSW State Emergency Services has attended to hundreds of calls for help as severe thunderstorms hit eastern and southern inland parts of the state today.

A NSW SES spokesperson said the agency had received over 520 calls for assistance in the 24 hours to 4.30pm Thursday, with a large number of calls coming from Wagga Wagga in the state’s south.

The spokesperson said people in Wagga Wagga made 206 requests for assistance, with the majority of those relating to flash flooding, fallen trees and leaking roofs.

Flooding has impacted most communities located along the Barwon/Darling River. The main flood peak along the Barwon River has now passed Brewarrina with a peak of 8.65 metres, which is moderate flooding for the area. A number of properties are isolated due to road closures, and floodwaters are anticipated to remain above the moderate flood level until mid-January.

The flood threat has now eased for the communities of Angledool, Collarenebri, Goodooga, Walgett and Weilmoringle. NSW SES is continuing to monitor conditions as water moves downstream from Bourke on the Darling River, with major flooding likely at Louth and Tilpa within the third week of January.

The spokesperson asked community members to monitor local flood conditions and stay up to date on the latest flood advice by visiting ses.nsw.gov.au.

The service is also reminding motorists that if they come across floodwater to stop, turn around and find another way.

For emergency assistance in floods or storms, call NSW SES on 132 500 or, if the situation is life-threatening, call triple-0 (000) immediately.

Thursday 4pm: Colac and Otways

The main street of Colac was underwater after thunderstorms hit the Otways this afternoon just after 4pm.

Some Colac residents reported a 25mm dumping of rain in less than an hour.

Usually the rainfall tally for the entire month of January is about 25mm.

Cow Lick Bookshop owner-manager Jordie Moloney said the rain deluge was intense but short-lived with the main street now back to normal.

“It was an insane 10 minutes – the rain was really heavy as you can see from the photo,” she said. “The rain came as quickly as it finished. It was intense but didn’t last too long.

“It looked pretty dramatic in the main street, with all the water, but it’s back to normal now.”

Flooding in Colac on January 6 after a heavy downpour, as pictured from the Cow Lick Bookshop. Picture: Cow Lick Bookshop

Vic Emergency issued a “Watch and Act” warning at 3.58pm, and by 4.30pm businesses were flooded with local creeks bursting their banks.

On Murray St, while water was lapping at the entrance to Cow Lick Bookshop the Thwaites Bakehouse was inundated with water and was now in clean-up mode.

Barongarook farmer Xavier Meade said his paddocks backing on to a creek had flooded, with the water level rising to cover his back patio.

“It was just out of control,” he said.

– ALEX SINNOTT and CAMILLE SMITH

Thursday 3.30pm: Eastern Victoria braces for storms and flash flooding on Friday

The Bureau of Meteorology says “humid, unstable conditions” will continue through to the weekend.

BOM senior meteorologist Christopher Arvier said eastern Victoria should prepare for heavy rain, potential flash flooding and a renewed risk of river rises on Friday.

Minor flood warnings were in place for the Snowy, Nicholson and Tambo rivers, and a moderate flood warning was in place for the Mitta Mitta river on Thursday afternoon after 24 hours of heavy rainfall.

Mr Arvier said the storm conditions were expected to ease after Friday, with cool and mild weather expected in Victoria over the weekend.

Thursday 2.20pm: SES attends to hundreds of calls for help

The Victorian State Emergency Service has received hundreds of calls for help since yesterday afternoon as heavy rains and flooding lash the state.

SES Victorian commander Josh Gamble said the service had received 456 requests for assistance in the 24 hours to 1pm Thursday.

The majority of jobs relating to downed trees (147), flooding (144) and building damage (123), he said.

The worst-affected areas were Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh and Wyndham, he said.

Of the 226 calls received by the VICSES Ballarat Unit, 112 related to flood; 82 to building damage; 20 to downed trees; 5 to domestic rescues; 4 to assist fire agencies; 2 to assist other agencies and 1 to landslide.

The State Control Centre has been activated to prepare for more severe weather, and regional operations centres have been set up in the most affected areas.

Flooding on Mair Street, Ballarat, on Wednesday January 5.

Thursday 1.35pm: Wild weather on way for NSW

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the central NSW.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding over the next several hours in the South West Slopes, Riverina and parts of the southern tablelands, central west slopes and plains, lower western and upper western districts. Locations which may be affected include Wagga Wagga, Albury, Deniliquin, Griffith, Narrandera and Cobar.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding over the next several hours in parts of the south coast district. Locations which may be affected include Eden and Merimbula.

Lochiel, inland from Merimbula in south east NSW, has been hit by heavy rain this morning, with 71.2mm recorded in the 3hrs to 12pm.

Just north of Lochiel at Kanoona, near Bega, 57mm was recorded in the 2hrs to 11.45am.

Omeo caravan park under water

Omeo, in Victoria’s northeast, recorded falls of 114mm over the 24 hours to 10am Thursday, sending the Omeo caravan park under water.
Victoria’s State Emergency Service warned people to expect moderate flooding along the Mitta Mitta river, upstream of Lake Dartmouth after rainfall totals of 70-130mm were recorded in the catchment.

About 150 people were evacuated from Omeo caravan park on Wednesday evening after the area was hit by the worst flooding it has seen in eight years.

Caravan park manager Sandi Beltrame said she helped all the park’s visitors to pack up before the park went under water.

“We sent them off at 12 o’clock last night and they weren’t very impressed, but they were happy this morning, because they got out,” she said on Thursday.

She said the caravan park recorded a total of 122mm of rain over the last 24 hours, and dozens of caravans were now unusable.

“If we stood at the highest point in the caravan park, we would be knee-deep in water,” she said.

“The caravans are unusable and the cabins are unusable, so I’ve got nothing,” she said.

The park had been booked out until the end of January. She was now spending the day calling all her customers to cancel their bookings.

Ms Belrame said she had notified her insurance company, but was yet to find out whether the damage would be covered.

Other infrastructure in Omeo was still being assessed for damage, she said.

“It’s devastating. We’ve had quite a lot of damage through town.”

Thursday 1.04pm: Storms lash victoria

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for northern and central Victoria.

Locations which may be affected include Bendigo, Shepparton, Seymour, Maryborough, Wodonga and Wangaratta, with storm cells moving south.

Showers and thunderstorms developed across parts of #Vic, #NSW, the #ACT and #SEQ on Wednesday, with up to 125mm recorded. More activity expected today as heavy rain may bring flash flooding. Stay across forecasts & warnings here: https://t.co/wdUcA3jLa8pic.twitter.com/ajWqdVr7iW

— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) January 6, 2022

Stone fruit growers warned of brown rot outbreak

Stone fruit growers across Victoria have been warned to prepare for a “heavy outbreak” of brown rot.
The Bureau of Meteorology advised on Thursday current weather patterns of rainfall and high humidity created the perfect conditions for an outbreak.

Growers in parts of the Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central, North East, South West, Central, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland forecast districts were warned to keep an eye out for the disease.

Thursday 11.30am: More power outages expected

Power suppliers have warned Victorians to expect power outages today as the network braces for more wild weather.

Energy provider PowerCor was already working to repair damage at dozens of sites from yesterday’s storms, with almost 2000 customers across the state without power as of 12pm Thursday.

Customers in Creswick, north of Ballarat, were among those worst affected, with almost 500 customers without power.

PowerCor was also working to reconnect more than 400 customers in the state’s south west this afternoon, with outages at Peterborough, Port Fairy and Heytesbury.

Storms, hail and lightning. Parts of our network may be in for a repeat of yesterday’s wild weather. Would you know what to do if you experience a power #outage?
Now's the time to check: https://t.co/DQiA5AYlaEpic.twitter.com/fEYaexojzr

— Powercor Australia (@PowercorAust) January 6, 2022

Thursday 10.45am: northeast Victoria bracing for storms and flooding

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned severe thunderstorms are likely to produce heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding in Echuca, Shepparton, Wodonga, Wangaratta, Corryong and Bright over the next several hours.

A further 40-80 mm are forecast for Friday with higher isolated totals possible with thunderstorm activity.

The Mitta Mitta River at Hinnomunjie exceeded the minor flood level (3.6m) Thursday morning and is currently near the moderate flood level (3.8m) and rising.

The news comes after Ballarat and surrounding areas were hit by heavy rain and flash flooding yesterday.
Wilson’s Reservoir, north of Ballarat, received a total of 102mm over the past 24 hours, and shops in the town have closed after heavy rain flooded some areas.