Downpours stretch South Canterbury infrastructure to limit

Mark Adams

Autumn is continuing to track well for South Canterbury farmers despite another substantial rainfall.

More than 130mm of rain was recorded in some parts of the district just over a fortnight ago, which had stretched farming infrastructure to its limit.

It was the third heavy rainfall for the district since July last year.

Despite the challenges those events had brought, the sector was still on track to have one of its best autumns in living memory.

Past president of South Canterbury Federated Farmers Mark Adams recorded 135mm of rain at his Fairlie property when a front passed over the district three weekends ago.

He said that amount of rain was more than enough to top up moisture levels, but for many farmers it was too much in one hit.

In a perfect world it would be better to have that quantity spread out over a much longer period, he said.

''It was almost too wet.''

However, a fortnight of warm weather helped balance out conditions for farmers across the sector.

''The amazing autumn has continued, but we certainly needed some drying [out] after what was a very wet week.''

Mr Adams said having three heavy rainfalls within 10 months was unusual.

Each of those events had stretched rural infrastructure to the limit, particularly culverts and drainage systems, he said.

''A lot of people have gone through and fixed infrastructure and it's burst again. These heavy rainfall events create quite a lot of work.

''You fix your floodgates and re-do drainage and hope you get some longevity out of the work you are doing.''

Niwa's outlook for May suggested there would be ''typical'' temperatures for North Otago, the Mackenzie district and Canterbury.

A drier May than usual was expected for the West Coast.

-By Alexia Johnston