Displaying items by tag: floods

It is three months since devastating floods hit the lower North Island. While the mess is gone from Whanganui city, and normal life has resumed, in the country it’s a far different story, writes Peter Burke.

It was a Saturday afternoon and it had been raining for two days; Taranaki farmer Graham Fergus decided to move his ewes on a hilly paddock.

Taranaki farmers are bouncing back from the devastating floods two months ago.

About 100 farmers in the Whanganui area are facing production losses this season of up to $100,000 as a result of the recent floods.

Levin organic dairy farmer Murray Moxham considers himself lucky to have got off relatively lightly during the recent floods that struck the lower North Island.

Dairy farms hit by recent floods in the lower North Island are slowly drying out according to DairyNZ.

DairyNZ says it is working alongside other groups to support farmers and ensure that around 5000 cows in central Manawatu and Horowhenua have enough feed for the winter after dozens of paddocks were flooded on dairy farms last week.

While the latest floods in the lower North Island are not as widespread and therefore not in the same league as those of 2004, they are nonetheless distressing and devastating to many farming families.

Two Northland farmers who dug through a stopbank during Northland’s biggest floods in July 2014 have been fined a combined $112,000, with one farmer copping most of the penalty.

FIFTEEN ENHANCED Taskforce Green (ETFG) members hired to help clean up storm-affected Northland farms, horticultural operations and orchards have begun work in earnest.