Storm costs millions - and rising

GATHERING STEAM: The Bay of Islands Vintage railway is back on track after taking a hammering in the recent floods.

It will be some time yet before an accurate cost of the storm of July 2014 can be calculated, but last week it was being put in the millions, and rising, for dairy farmers and avocado growers alone.

By Thursday last week DairyNZ had contacted dairy farmers who were collectively milking 27,000 cows on 10,700 hectares in Northland, and was estimating that 4470 hectares would be lost for grazing. DairyNZ was conservatively estimating a cost to farmers of around $20 million.

Some 5000 hectares of grass was expected to remain under water for 10 days, and would take three months to become productive again.

A further 1000 hectares was expected to remain under water for a shorter time.

The cost of regrassing was conservatively estimated at $660 per hectare, while other costs would include fencing, repairing races and the loss of calves.

Some avocado orchards in the Far North and Whangarei district were hit hard, especially those in exposed eastern areas. Others had escaped with minimal damage.

The cost of the storm to that industry was late last week estimated at $13.5 million, with a 30 per cent loss of crop, including fruit that was already on the ground and more than would fall in coming weeks. NZ Avocado food safety standards prohibit the sale of any fruit that has touched the ground as fresh.

The Far North and Whangarei had been expected to produce 35 per cent of the national crop of 7.4 million trays this season.

Meanwhile, as of Thursday the Ministry of Social Development had received 134 requests for food, clothing and fuel, mostly as the result of power outages, in the Kaitaia, Kawakawa and Kaikohe areas.

The Ministry of Education had contacted all school and pre-school centres, reporting minimal damage. Damage at a small number of kohanga reo was to be assessed this week, but the ministry expected the new school term to begin yesterday as scheduled.

No issues had been reported regarding mare in the region, although Te Puni Kokiri would be contacting them.

There had been no increase in demand for Red Cross services, but the Whangarei branch had sourced 50 toiletry packs for the Far North if required.

Vodafone had lost its 2G service at Maungataniwha and Ahipara (although 3G was working), and was having difficulty reaching the sites.

There was a total Vodafone outage at Awanui, as the result of a transmission fault that predated the storm.

Top Energy had yet to reconnect power for 99 customers, with particular difficulty at Wekaweka, where new lines were flown in on Wednesday. Thirty-two customers at Pukenui, where power had mostly been restored but was fluctuating, were still affected.

Driver behaviour, especially on State Highway 12, Mangakahia and Ruapekapeka roads, had been of concern to police, who had begun patrolling those roads, and complaints to police in Rawene about speeding in the Waimamaku area had seen the speed limit there reduced.