Federated Farmers in South Taranaki has mobilised to help colleagues affected by Saturday's storm.
Derek Gibson, Federated Farmers Taranaki dairy chairman, said the priority was animal welfare, especially getting water to stock.
"Electricity could be out for the next day or so and that means affected farms won't be ableto reticulate water for stock to drink. While it sounds odd, given the storm we've just had, most surface water will now be absorbed and troughs will start to run dry," Mr Gibson said.
"The Hawera Volunteer Fire Brigade has kindly offered to transport stock water to those farms without electricity. We'd ask that only those farms that have genuine concern for their stock to contact Hawera's chief fire officer, Darryl Fowler, on 0272 919 673," he said.
Mr Gibson said there would be minimal risk to the environment as a result of the storm.
"While farms like mine have had to divert milk into the nutrient pond, this will be recycled to land as nutrients when conditions permit," he said.
"We know this storm has affected horticulture and forestry as well and we all need to work together as we start adding up the cost of this storm's damage," he said.
He also thanked Powerco for the work it had been doing to get supply back to affected homes and businesses.
Text alerts from Federated Farmers and from DairyNZ will be sent out
Affected farms can call Federated Farmers 0800 FARMING line (0800 327 646)
Farmers can ring in their needs so Federated Farmers can build a picture of just how widespread the damage has been. If there is heavy call volume, leave a message
If internet access is not available, most modern mobile phones are web capable. Use that to check the outages and faults page at www.powerco.co.nz
