Quambatook, Horsham, Lindenow: Thunderstorms produced rainfall totals of more than 100mm

Crop growers are thankful for a near-complete harvest before heavy Christmas rain. See where the big totals fell.

Croppers have dodged a bullet with parts of western and northern Victoria almost finished harvest before a Christmas drenching of more than 100mm of rain.

The biggest falls were in the Mallee and Wimmera, with Dunnolly measuring 118mm in the 48 hours to 9am today, followed by Kerang with 107mm, Swan Hill 95mm and St Arnaud 93mm. In other parts of the state, Sale recorded 98mm, Lake Eildon 92mm and Maryborough 78mm.

At Quambatook, in the Mallee, 128mm fell on grain grower Brett Hosking’s farm, who said attention will soon turn to summer weed control on paddocks that have produced another strong winter crop.

Quambatook farmer Brett Hosking had close to 130mm fall at his farm. Picture: James Wagstaff

He said harvest was “95 per cent” complete in most parts of the Mallee.

“This rain means we will be doing a lot of spraying over the next few weeks,” he said.

“It will probably take a week or so before paddocks are properly accessible and then we wil be right into weed management and making sure the moisture is there for next year’s crop.

“The challenge when you do get a rain like this is a lot of it runs off.

“But a lot would have still got in and made a big difference.”

David Jochinke with his nephew Zac Wickson who were still harvesting lentils in early January this year. Picture: Zoe Phillips

National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke said he received 98mm of rain on his farm at Murra Warra, north of Horsham, in what he described as “a real storm lotto”.

He said while he had 250ha of crop still to harvest it was in an area not badly affected by the heavy rain or hail.

“We are going to have to paint the farm with glyphosate to get on top of summer weeds (to retain soil moisture ahead of planting next year’s winter crop),” Mr Jochinke said.

“For those areas that got hit by the heavy falls, it has really set it up for the next season.”

He said this year’s harvest had been frustrating due to a lack of a string of warm days.

“We haven’t had the 30C days that we normally get and therefore haven’t had a good run at it,” he said.

“The majority of farmers locally are finished but there’s still enough crop on the stalk to ensure the grain centres will be busy into the new year.”

Bill Bulmer and other East Gippsland vegetable growers have battled a long dry spell before two floods and high humidity levels.

In East Gippsland, Sale had 86.2mm in the 24 hours to 9am Monday.

But nearby vegetable growing areas including Lindenow that have encountered two floods following an extended dry spell had just over 13mm.

Vegetable grower Bill Bulmer said humidity had been another headache.

“The rain in the last couple of months hasn’t done the growing production much good here in East Gippsland,” he said.

“This wet weather is good for growing grass and everyone else, but not the vegetable industry.

“The humidity has been just a bigger killer as the last flood.

“There was a bit more product in the ground so if it wasn’t flooded, it was water-damaged

“Having humidity on soft leafy product is a killer.”

Parts of Sale 3850 are flooded this morning. I just saw someones bin floating down the street. #gippsnewspic.twitter.com/UIERzbC4C8

— David Hollis (@GippsNews) December 25, 2023

Mr Hosking said the widespread rain would put added pressure on already battered roads.

“We’ve got to start to realise these sort of events are under a changing climate,” he said.

“They are going to happen more often and we’ve to make sure our infrastructure is built in such a way we’re not doing recovery repairs every time the same event re-occurs.”

Wedderburn in central Victoria had more than 100mm of rain on Christmas Day. Picture: Facebook

The weekend rain has taken Swan Hill’s year-to-date total to 458mm, representing 153 per cent of its annual average.

With less than a week of the year remaining it leads Rutherglen which has received 134 per cent of its annual average or 780mm, Nhill (122 per cent or 408mm), Shepparton (122 per cent or 527mm), Sale (118 per cent or 697mm), Horsham (118 per cent or 429mm) and Kerang (115 per cent or 427mm).

Swan Hill also recorded some of the best rain in Victoria, compared to its long-term average, in 2022 with 203 per cent or 608mm.

Then, Horsham came in at No. 2 with 184 per cent or 670mm, Nhill No. 6 with 164 per cent or 546mm and Rutherglen No. 8 with 161 per cent or 934mm.

In southern NSW this year, Ivanhoe leads the charge having recorded 157 per cent of its annual average total to date, or 367mm, followed by Deniliquin (142 per cent or 507mm), Condobolin (139 per cent or 559mm), Albury (133 per cent or 803mm) and Temora (121 per cent or 635mm).