Wednesday, Dec 18, 2013
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Fifteen minutes of fury
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Hail, flash floods and tornado destroy crops and property A tornado about to touch down near Methven.
PHOTO MYLES HUME 171213-MH-004
BY MYLES HUME
MYLES.H@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Mayfield residents were left counting the cost of living in Mid Canterbury’s hail belt yesterday. One crop farmer has estimated the 15-minute storm will carve up to $500,000 off his bottom line and is pondering what to do next, after golf ball-sized hailstones hammered the rural Mid Canterbury town about 5pm Monday. Homeowners spent yesterday boarding up smashed windows to keep the rain out, ducking outside between heavy showers to pick up broken glass and assess damage to their gardens shredded by the storm. “It really sounded like gun shots were going off outside, so I wrapped my daughter in blankets to shield her from the noise. I was scared of the amount of damage there was going to be to our property,” Mayfield resident John-Hayden Barrett said. It was the second time Mayfield has been struck by a major hailstorm, with crop farmers in the area left reeling at a million dollar repair bill in 2009. A
Above – A “hook echo” (circled), showing formation of a tornado, near Methven. Below – Mayfield resident John-Hayden Barrett is shocked by the damage caused by Monday night’s hailstorm. PHOTO MYLES HUME 171213-MH-001
tornado also ripped through the area in January this year, accompanied by recent wind storms. Mayfield crop farmer Ben
Johnson knows better than anyone the wrath of mother nature’s force. He was caught up in those events and Monday
night’s storm has now completely written off some crops and seriously reduced others. He is now wondering what happens from here. “It’s going to have a huge impact, hundreds of thousands off the bottom line, maybe 50 per cent,” he said. “I’ve never had this kind of impact from the weather before.” The hailstones, estimated to be up to 3cm in diameter, came from a supercell that developed above Geraldine about 4.40pm before moving north over Mayfield. Small branches covered State Highway 72, torn down by the relentless stones, while the Mayfield Service Centre called in windscreen experts to help locals get their vehicles back on the road. “It’s definitively been the talk of the town, people are just amazed at how horrendous it was and how local it appeared to be,” Mayfield Service centre staff member Sharon West said.
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