HAWKE’S BAY STORM

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20130, 27 December 1939, Page 6

HAWKE’S BAY STORM

HAIL AS BIG AS MARBLES MARKET GARDENS SUFFER DAMAGE IN ORCHARDS (Special to the Herald.) NAPIER, this day. Torrential rains and spasmodic hailstorms created widespread anxiety in the main fruit and tomato-growing districts in Hawke’s Bay yesterday afternoon. A particularly heavy fall was experienced in one portion of the Pakowliai district, but other orchards, less than a quarter of a mile away apparently escaped unscathed. The two areas which appear to have caught the brunt of the fall are part of Pakowhai and the TaradalcGreenmeadows vicinity. Growers in the Haumoana, Tw.yford, Mahora aim Te Mata districts reported that the fall in those areas had been mainly confined to rain, or at the worst to rain and hail mixed, with insufficient hail in the mixture to cause material damage.

So far as Pakowhai was concerned, heavy hail fell in patches. Communicated with by telephone yesterday afternoon, Mr. H. M. Thompson stated that the hail was one of the heaviest falls he had seen It lasted for about 10 minutes.

Fortunately the hail was round and not of the jagged variety and as far as Mr. Thompson could judge, there was very little puncturing amongst his pip fruit, but he estimated that there would be a considerable amount of damage from bruising. It will he impossible to estimate the damage until the fruit dries, but in past hailstorms where bruising of this nature has occurred, the result is a pink spot on the surface of the apple, which does not develop at that point, the tissue being killed.

Heavy hail fell over a wide area in the Taradale and Greenmeadows district, in some cases the hail being as large as marbles. Inquiry has revealed that the market gardeners have suffered considerable damage, and the extent of the damage in the vineyards is likely to be excessive.