Breath held as rain, hail hit home

Heavy cloud over an Eskdale vineyard off State highway 5, near Napier, yesterday. Photo / Paul Taylor

Fingers were crossed throughout Hawke's Bay last night after rain and hail swept parts of the region, with possible catastrophic results for some sectors in the area's vast horticultural economy.

While there were no immediate indications of disaster, the air of hope was expressed by Fruitfed Supplies technical field representative Andrew McNeill, who said as the rain and some hail was falling around Stortford Lodge about 3.45pm: "Let's hope it's only falling in town and there's just a bit of paint falling off - not fruit falling off in the orchards."

Assessments of the impact of the short, relatively localised rain and hail, which followed sometimes heavy rain the previous night, would start almost immediately and Mr McNeill expected a meeting this morning.

Emails were expected immediately to start the process of information gathering, and he said: "We'll be doing that risk assessment straight away."

Teams of staff in the field and on the road were capable of being mobilised to "walk" orchards if need be, and he said: "Most of us would be capable of walking 8-10 orchards in a row.

"The sector reports are done as well," he said.

"We have to," he said, explaining the quick response. "We've got millions of dollars out on credit, and we need to know how we are going to manage it.

"The Government will also want to know," he said.

If orchards were hit, he expected the most vulnerable at this stage of the season to be apples and late plumfruit, along with some varieties of apricots and peaches. Some grape varieties were also particularly vulnerable.

Apples have been thinned, removing those which may have been damaged in earlier events.

Horticulture NZ director and former Fruitgrowers HB president Leon Stallard headed for his orchards off Chystall Rd in the late-afternoon strike, aware a farming friend off Middle Rd was being pelted by hail. "We're okay," he reported soon afterwards.

However, it had been a 24-hour watch as heavy clouds loomed mainly from the south, and around Mt Erin, and he said: "It looks like it's building again ... so just watch this space."

"Ah," he said. "Same old, same old. It's what we do."

Many areas were likely to have seen none of the rain, meaning, particularly for beef and sheep farmers a risk of drought remains, although it has been nowhere near the extreme of mid-2013, nor the drought of 2009.

The next-most recent significant rain in Hawke's Bay had been in the first half of December, meaning most area on the Heretaunga Plains and surrounding ranges and hills had until the last 36 hours seen almost no rain in a month.