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A sudden heavy hailstorm coated Motueka in white and has come at a terrible time for kiwifruit growers.
A Caltex Motueka employee said the heavy hailstorm started at about 3.15pm on Friday and lasted for “a good 20 minutes”.
“First of all it was gentle hail and then she got heavier and heavier. It covered all the ground out there. A lot of cars came in to shelter for a bit.”
“It was very scary for people. There’s already been one accident.
“We’re having how many seasons in one day at the moment? Quite a few, aren’t we?”
Her message for people in the Nelson region was: “Just be prepared.”
It’s still too early to tell how apple orchards will fare but it’s not looking promising for kiwifruit growers still assessing the damage from another hailstorm which hit the region just last week.
Motueka Fruit Growers Association chairman Simon Easton said growers would be impacted as the storm was where “it’s kiwifruit country”.
It looked like Motueka and part of Redwoods Valley had been badly hit, he said, with hail “white, thick on the ground and pea sized”.
As for the other fruit growers, Easton said it could come to nothing, or it could be “a bloody disaster”.
“Two major storms this early is very unusual.”
Mainland Kiwi Growers Entity director Evan Heywood, who grows apples and kiwifruit in the Motueka area, said it was unlikely the hail had done much damage to the kiwifruit.
“What’s happened is the hail’s gone through the leaves and shredded the leaves a little bit and broken some shoots as well. It probably won’t have done a lot of damage to the fruit.”
He said it was too early to tell how the apples would be affected.
“You won’t know until the fruit grows a bit.”
More than 5000 homes across Tasman lost power at about 1.30pm on Friday. It was not known on Friday afternoon it was due to the poor weather.
“It could be but we can’t say for sure,” Network Tasman network manager Murray Hendrickson said.
“Two substations in Hope and Brightwater feed everything from the southern edge of Richmond. Those areas were initially affected.”
A lightning storm made identifying and repairing the fault difficult but most homes had power back by 3.30pm, he said.
Nicola Allan of Floral Affair in Motueka said fire engines and police vehicles were seen headed towards Richmond during the hailstorm.
“The ground’s covered but it could have been worse.
“I had a flood not too long ago so I was looking at the ceiling.”
Charlene George said popular Motueka cafe Toad Hall’s courtyard was “completely white”.
“We can’t see the ground; it’s like a snowstorm.”
After Friday morning’s torrential downpour gave way to to a bright sunshine by early afternoon.
The outlook for the weekend is brighter, with a spell of sunshine and fine weather with highs of 17C and 19C on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Courtesy of stuff.co.nz
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