Abstract

Nature looks so pretty with raindrops on a leaf but last night the heavens opened and down came the rain with HAIL!!
You could say hail is hell for a horticultural area. We have been hearing stories all day of the pipfruit orchards and berryfruit gardens that have been hit from the Waimea Plains to Riwaka.
Hail is funny stuff. It can cut fine strips in a paddock of wheat or shred the leaves off trees one side of the road and not the other.
One friend said they had golf ball size and much of it very jagged. Their orchard is 80% affected so their income for the year has gone and along with it their ten workers.
Time will tell how widespread it was and whether the same people have been caught for a second year. Some have insurance but not all.
We can only support those affected as best we can.