Western Bay faces massive financial loss

Howling gales battering the Western Bay of Plenty have caused hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage for residents, power companies, farmers and growers - and more blustery weather is on the way.
Since the storm first hit last Friday, hundreds of homes have been affected by weather-related power cuts.
Gale-force winds downed trees, causing power cuts on Powerco's network. Residents in Omokoroa, Paengaroa, Rangiuru, Apata, Pahoia, Te Puke and Maketu were without power yesterday, but Powerco said power had been restored to all the main networks in the Western Bay.
Some of those hardest hit by the wild weather are in the $84 million avocado industry.
Winds up to 80km/h ripped up trees and damaged valuable produce from Katikati to Te Puke.
Avocado orchard owner Sam Dunlop said damage to his Kauri Tree orchard, just north of Katikati, could reach tens of thousands of dollars.
Mr Dunlop lost about 10 avocado trees and estimated that 30 to 40 per cent of fruit in his 17ha orchard had been destroyed. "There's been a hell of a lot of damage," he said. "Fruit blown off and trees blown over. They are about 13-year-old mature trees.
"You see them standing one day and now we can't even salvage the fruit.
"Now there's going to be a hole in the ground for the next five or six years while we replace them." However, Mr Dunlop said other orchardists were a lot worse off. "I've heard that someone in Te Puna has lost 60 per cent of their crop. It's very tough but hopefully not everyone will have such big losses."
Te Puke avocado grower Ashby Whitehead also felt the effects of the wild weather but was philosophical about the situation and said: "The weather is the weather and there's nothing we can do to change it so it's no good losing too much sleep over it." He had lost about six large trees and "who knows how much fruit" and estimated his loss at $20,000 to $30,000 which was about 15 per cent of his orchard's annual turnover.
Avocado Growers Association chairman John Schnackenberg said the total amount of damage caused by the strong wind and rain was not immediately known.
"There will be a number of growers that have been hit hard by this damage and will have significant personal loss across the Western Bay of Plenty," he said.
"The total effect of the situation is still being assessed but it appears there will be a reduction on the final harvested crop." Experts are confident the export industry will not suffer.
"There is no doubt we will still have high-quality fruit to export," Southern Produce technical manager Colin Partridge said.
Some of the fruit remaining on trees would have "wind rubbing" - slight abrasions and bruising from rubbing on adjacent branches. Some of this fruit could not be sold on the export market.
The fruit that had blown off the trees would have to be picked up and destroyed or sent to an oil factory, which would yield low returns.
MetService forecaster Chris Noble said winds of 40 to 45km/h and gusts of 80 to 90km/h had ravaged the region since Sunday afternoon.
Another front was expected to pass over the country today and tomorrow, causing "blustery conditions" for the Bay of Plenty. "Then on Sunday we're looking at an improving trend with much lighter winds but frequent showers as the next front goes over," he said.
AMI Tauranga branch manager Karen Riddington said 50 weather-related claims had been made this week in Tauranga. That did not include claims made through the Bayfair branch. "The biggest was a roof blown off a house in Bellevue. The rest of them were thing like trampolines blown around, garden sheds being blown around, tiles coming off roofs, and things coming down and landing on fences."
Julian Quellin, from Mount Maunganui roofing firm Custom Roof, had recorded an especially busy week because of the weather.
"We've had quite a few people calling in because of it.
"We've even just repaired a large flashing that got ripped in two by high winds," Mr Quellin said.
Viv Jones, the owner of appliance repair company TV Eye, said he had seen between 30 to 40 storm-damaged appliances in the past week. One of the worst cases he had seen was a fax machine that had "blown up".
"The power supply was virtually completely damaged, the fuse was disabled, other safety devices were charred and there were sooty deposits across the board."