Twisted steel and roofless berry tunnels following the storms.
Photo: SUPPLIED/CAM LEWIS
Storms across the North Island have destroyed a Horowhenua grower’s large berry tunnels, but power to the milking shed has since returned.
Severe weather over the weekend thrust five North Island districts into states of emergency; Manawatū, Rangitīkei, Tararua, Waipā and Ōtorohanga.
At Lewis Farms near Levin, strong gusts smashed 100m long berry tunnels, ripping off roofs and twisting steel.
Milk collection was scheduled for late Tuesday once downed trees were cleared from the farm’s tanker tracks and roads.
Owner and managing director of the family business, Cam Lewis, said the team was safe which was the main thing, but there was significant damage to the farm.
Goodbye to the roof over the berry tunnels at the Lewis Farm in Horowhenua.
Photo: SUPPLIED/CAM LEWIS
“The farms are a bit of a mess at the moment,” he said.
“Worst for us is the strawberries. So our tunnel houses and the crop itself have been particularly hard hit by the wind.”
Lewis said while many of the tunnels were still standing, he estimated about two of the seven hectares the tunnels covered had sustained damage.
Strong winds smashed the berry farm in Horowhenua.
Photo: SUPPLIED/CAM LEWIS
“We feel we’re pretty geared up for handling wind, but unfortunately this time around, it came in a completely different direction to what the farm’s built to handle and to what we would normally expect.
“So lots and lots of tunnel houses with roofs gone and twisted steel and heaps of our plants lying on the ground, which isn’t ideal.”
As well as growing berries and asparagus, the farm had just under 900 dairy cows across two sites.
Power to the milking sheds was still out by Monday afternoon, when Lewis said he expected the outage to end soon.
“I think there’s a bit over 400 girls sitting out there at the moment wondering why they haven’t been milked this morning.”
Damage to berry tunnels at Lewis Farms in Horowhenua.
Photo: SUPPLIED/CAM LEWIS
Power returned to the shed by Monday evening, so the cows were “very relieved”, he said.
It was the second power outage at the farm since Christmas.
Lewis said it was time to think about adding a generator to the fleet.
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