SA: Farmers count cost of storm chaos

AAP General News (Australia)
12-09-1999
SA: Farmers count cost of storm chaos

By Valkerie Mangnall

ADELAIDE, Dec 9 AAP - Farmers today began the heartbreaking task of counting the cost
of a vicious storm which flattened power poles, destroyed crops, and ripped the roofs
off buildings in South Australia.

The damage bill was expected to run into the millions of dollars after winds of more
than 120 kph swept across the state yesterday afternoon along with hailstones as big as
golf balls.

South Australian Farmers Federation president Dale Perkins said one farmer lost 1,000
acres (404 ha) of canola worth $300,000.

"To the best of our knowledge there's a couple of hundred farmers affected so we're
talking in the millions of dollars," Mr Perkins said.

He said while some of the damage would be insured against, some would not.

There were no reports of people being injured but four horses were killed by hail and
another four had to be put down because of their injuries.

Damage was reported across a wide area with towns on the Eyre Peninsula and Yorke Peninsula
the first to feel the impact.

The worst hit area appeared to be around Snowtown, north of Adelaide, where several
steel-and-concrete power poles were left lying across roads and there were reports of
entire grain crops being lost along with significant damage to buildings.

Farmer Tom O'Donnell lost 250 hectares of wheat, chickpeas and beans on his property,
Kilrush, at Snowtown.

Today he was trying to remove machinery from amongst the debris of two sheds to determine
whether the machines were damaged.

It was too early to put a dollar figure on the destruction, he said.

"We had the roof of a shed blown I don't know how many metres in the air but it went
over the power lines and over the house and landed on the other side of the house," Mr
O'Donnell told AAP.

"It was bloody frightening ... we've got cattle here, they're just walking around like
zombies, they don't know what hit them.

"We've got big old gum trees, 200 years old, stripped, torn to pieces."

Mr O'Donnell said a similar storm hit the property in November, 1979, and one of the
sheds which was destroyed overnight had been a replacement for a shed destroyed in that
storm.

AAP vm/sn/cjh/br

KEYWORD: STORM SA NIGHTLEAD

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