WHEAT THRESHED BY HAIL

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22592, 23 December 1938, Page 10

WHEAT THRESHED BY HAIL

Oats Reduced to Chaff

LOSSES IN WAITOHI DISTRICT [THE PRESS Special Service.! TEMUKA, December 22. Scenes of devastation greeted Waitohi farmers who inspected their crops to-day after yesterday’s hailstorm. Wheat crops in many instances were threshed out. only the stems standing to bear testimony of what had promised to be bumper crops. That this district was foremost among those which had borne the brunt of the storm which swept most of South Canterbury was evident to a reporter from ‘’The Press,” who to-day interviewed troubled farmers. The storm evidently travelled along a definite line, and in many cases one farmer whose crops were comparatively untouched would have a neighbour whose crops would be ruined.

The full fury of the storm centred on the farm of Mr A. Squires, where nearly all crops were destroyed. A 60-acre wheat crop was battered by hailstones bigger than marbles. The wheat looked as though it had been ploughed in. Fruit trees were not only stripped of their fruit and their leaves but also of their bark. Windows were shattered and the privations endured by newly-shorn sheep in the short storm must have been pitiful. Men’s hands were swollen and bruised. Gooseberries were slit in two by huge hailstones and strawberry plants driven into the ground. Mr A. J. Davey pointed out oat crops which were reduced to chaff on his farm, which was not so badly damaged as that of Mr Squires. Up to 75 per cent, of his harvestable crop was on the ground in many paddocks. He estimated that 30 bushels of oats were lying on the ground in every acre. The hail had simply threshed the oats, leaving the stems standing. His wheat crops were still worth harvesting although many stems were broken. The Cross 7 strain was tougher and had stood the storm better than the rest. Spring-sown c„ts had not met with such a loss and farmers whose crops had been well on would be worse off than the others. Tomatoes were reduced to their stems and all rape which had been sown only last week was lost. Potatoes lost all their foliage and the stems were beaten to toe ground. Swede crops were lost and apples were badly marked. Gorse Hedges ’Trimmed

Tough gorse hedges which had defied the efforts of the farmers to keep them back for years were neatly trimmed to the branches by the heavy hail and even Californian thistle received a setback. Small branches and chips off willow trees were blown more than 40 chains uphill in one place. Water was lying in paddocks at Waitohi flat, although the storm had most effect bn the downs.

Farmers were ■ enabled by fine weather this morning to review their crops and to make plans to recoup their losses, but by 3.30 p.m. another heavy thunderstorm enveloped the whole district in rain. Wednesday’s hailstorm was described by residents of long standing as the worst ever experienced.

FURTHER RAIN AT ASHBURTON

FOUR COWS KILLED BY LIGHTNING

Beginning about the same time as the downpour on Wednesday afternoon, heavy, driving rain set in at Ashburton shortly after 4.30 yesterday afternoon. Gusts of wind from the south-east swept the rain down the side streets.

There was hail in the country nearer the hills. Heavy hail was experienced nead Hinds and at Winchmore, but no damage was reported.

One of the worst electrical storms in the history of the district passed over Ashburton Forks, and it was acccm.panied by vivid flashes of forked lightning. Four cows in profit, valued at more than £3O, were killed on the farm of Mr H. C. Aschen, at Ashburton Forks, two being the best in his herd. The animals were struck as they stood beside a creek. Torrential rain fell over the whole district between Ashburton and the hills, and many fuses were blown in the Ashburton Power Board’s electrical system.

HEAVY RAIN IN NORTH OTAGO

NO REPORTS OF MAJOR DAMAGE

[THE PRESS Special Service.] OAMARU, December 22. After a long spell of intermittent rain, the weather changed for the worse early this afternoon, when a heavy thunderstorm broke over North Otago about 1 o’clock. Although the rainfall was exceptionally heavy, the downpour lasted only a few minutes, the total being less than 20 points. Thunder and vivid lightning made the storm spectacular, but there were no reports late this afternoon of any damage in the district.

Heavy rain fell yesterday afternoon and during the night. 61 points being recorded at Oamaru for the 24 hours ended at 9 o’clock this morning. In the country districts the fall was much heavier, especially near Elderslie, where the fall, described as a minor cloudburst, flooded roads and paddocks, but apparently did no major damage. .Reports circulating in Oamaru of floods at Enfield were found to be incorrect, although the rain in the district yesterday was very heavy. Although they described the outburst as a “sharp electrical storm,” officials of the telegraph branch of the Post Office reported that no major damage had been done'in the district, and that no lines were down. Almost the same report was given by the Waitaki Electric Power Board, which stated that a few high tension fuses only had been blown out. In Oamaru itself the hailstorm was not heavy enough to do much damage to the crops and gardens.

ORCHARDS NOT DAMAGED

RANGIORA AND LOBURN DISTRICTS ESCAPE

Heavy rain on Wednesday night, scattered showers of hail, and a moderate wind which damaged fruit and orchards near Oxford and Carleton caused no damage to orchards at Loburn and Rangiora. Inquiries by a reporter show that districts near Rangiora were on the fringe of the storm, and that fruit and ; farm crops accordingly were not affected.

While ill-effects are feared from the continuation of the wet weather, wheat and oats crops are not yet sufficiently near maturity for the straws to be in danger of being beaten down, and the only risk in the immediate future is that the crops will suffer from mildew unless the weather changes to sunshine and dry winds.