The hailstorm on Thursday night hit orchards that were already suffering from damage caused by a hailstorm on the Melbourne Cup weekend.
An early estimate by Fruit Growers Victoria found about 1085 hectares which had totally lost their crop of largely apples and pears, causing a loss of about $50 million.
Fruit Growers Victoria grower services manager Michael Crisera said this did not take into account the neighbouring areas which suffered damage to fruit.
“This was bad, but not quite as bad as the Melbourne Cup weekend when about 50 per cent of crops were damaged,” Mr Crisera said.
He said Thursday night’s storm cell appeared to have moved across from Tatura through Ardmona to Bunbartha.
“I have never seen blocks as badly hit as those from November and this week.
“Some blocks could be out for two years.”
Fruit Growers Victoria will be trying to pull together accurate estimates of the damage over the next few weeks.
Orchardist Rien Silverstein was very worried about their leased block in Dhurringile Rd, Tatura when she spoke to Country News the day after the December 22 thunderstorm.
“The extent was severe,” Mrs Silverstein said.
“Leaves were stripped off the trees, the fruit was shattered to the ground and what fruit is left on the tree has also been severely affected if there's no hail netting.
“I think it's all gone. So it's really devastating. That's the only word I can think of.
“Just before Christmas, many people like ourselves are only getting money for last year's crop.”
Mrs Silverstein said the lessees had been been pruning, working the ground up after the floods, and investing a lot of preparation work.
She hoped the Victorian Government recognised the scale of the damage and was able to put some emergency relief into effect immediately.
“Fruit Growers Victoria will be working on this and it’s a perfect job for (State Member for Shepparton) Kim O’Keeffe, to get that funding to help those people immediately,” Mrs Silverstein said.
“It’s terrible, it’s a whole year’s income, a million dollars.”
The Tatura Hotel suffered roof damage, which led to the ceiling crashing to the floor in one place.
Tatura Hotel licensee Peter Warburton said the hotel lost power, which meant the loss of vast amounts of food, combined with forced cancellations.
He estimated the damages to cost more than $20,000.
21°C