Farmers are cleaning up after a freak hailstorm ripped through south-east Queensland’s rich Lockyer Valley, destroying an estimated $30 million of crops and resulting in a further $20 million of infrastructure damage.
Lockyer Valley Growers president Michael Sippel said the storm cell, estimated to be about five kilometres wide, dropped hail and wind “like a tornado,” leaving a trail of destruction on Friday afternoon.
“It was just intense. It left nothing in its path. That’s the hard part is there’s nothing left to harvest,” he said.
“Everything from pumpkins to melons to green beans, sweet corn, shallots, broccolini.”
It was estimated that 35 to 40 growers were affected by the event, including Mr Sippel’s family farm.
“It’s just smashed the ground, and my father, he’s in his late 70s; he’s farmed there his whole life and never seen anything like this.”
‘Already on their knees’
Lockyer Valley Mayor Tanya Milligan said winds up to 87 kilometres per hour were recorded.
“It has been recorded that in a two-hour period, there was something like 45,000 lightning strikes,” she said.
“I’m not saying this lightly, but on the highway a home was basically blown apart.
“There is just debris scattered all through those paddocks on the highway,” She said.
“I have never seen hail that looks like snow like you would swear that you were driving through Thredbo or Perisher.”
She said the farming community “already on their knees” were hard hit.
Blow after blow
The timing could not be worse, with growers from the region getting back on their feet after several floods last year.
“You’d hope after a year of floods you could make some money this year, but it just hasn’t happened,” Mr Sippel said.
“We’ve had such a tough winter-spring production period. Prices for vegetables have been at an all-time low.
“It’s been a very tough season and for some growers to finish it this way, it’s a pretty tough pill to swallow.”
He said estimating the effect on consumers was hard, as many crops were oversupplied.
“Not that you’d know that when you walk into supermarkets with the prices that are in the supermarkets, you wouldn’t think so,” he said.
“Victoria’s coming online now with a lot of their produce now, so it [the effect] remains to be seen.”
He said some of the affected farms are employing up to 60 people.
“There’s no income there to pay for people now for the next few months,” he said.
Growers caught off guard
Forest Hill farmer Mitch Brimblecombe said no-one was expecting the extent of the storm.
“It was quite catastrophic the way it impacted us,” he said.
“The wind was incredible. I’ve seen on some farms there were vegetable bins blown over which I couldn’t push over myself, and the wind has managed to do that.
“We’ve lost some beetroot. There are probably 80 acres of cotton that have been hailed. We’ll have to replant.
He said a lot of farms that were still in peak production have been devastated.
“There was broccolini crops that were ready for harvest and they’re now sticks,” he said.
“Some growers in the district obviously will have insurance, some won’t.”
Urgent need for assistance
Local state MP Jim McDonald has called on the state and federal government to assist.
“There’s immediate isolated assistance for the individual properties, but when we meet certain triggers, the prime minister can make a declaration and provide Category A, Category B and Category C funding for different support for the farms,” he said.
“It looks like somebody’s put a slasher over the top of the shallots and broccolini crops.
“Fifth-generation farmers say it’s the worst they’ve seen.
“That devastation is one thing, [but] the loss of Joy, Colin Greenwood’s partner of 35 years, on a Friday afternoon, in a freak accident after attending two horses that was just tragic for the community as well.”
Call for army assistance
Michael Sippel said the damage was so severe the army should be brought in to help affected growers.
“I don’t think a big enough deal has been made of this,” he said.
“There’s certainly growers here that would benefit from having a team of army people out here, helping them pull down destroyed greenhouses and things like that.
“The only thing that can fix the issue is to get it rebuilt and start again.
“But when it’s sitting there in a pile of metal and plastic, you just want to get it pulled down, but they don’t physically have the mental strength nor the ability to do that job on their own. They really need some assistance.”
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