MOST of Sunraysia’s grape growers were spared as isolated hailstorms swept through the district on Thursday night, although some of those who were hit lost fruit at or near harvest.
While some parts of the Mallee district, including Mildura city, received barely a drop of rain, unofficial gauges recorded as much as 28mm in a matter of minutes or were smashed by intense hail.
Australian Table Grape Association chief executive Jeff Scott said most growers had been unaffected by storm damage that was “fortunately not as bad as it could have been”, although some, especially near Robinvale and Euston, had found fruit stripped to the ground or pulverised on the vine.
“Watching the weather radar I was seeing these big, red blobs heading for Robinvale and I thought holy hell, this is going to be bad,” he said.
But the hail had fallen in “a narrow strip”, hitting some properties hard as neighbouring blocks were untouched, although all growers would now be concerned that high temperatures and humidity following the rain could cause berry splitting and disease.
Mr Scott said disease management could be especially problematic as pandemic-related shortages meant chemical-treatment supplies were scarce.
Euston-area grower Nat Bulzomi, whose crop was ready to pick as the storm came in, was among the lucky ones, but said he was “shit-scared” as he heard hail smashing his carport.
“I thought it was the wind at first, but then it was was like someone was hitting the carport door with a bit of pipe,” Mr Bulzomi said.
He was among growers who were able to protect at least some of their crops with covers and damage to his fruit was minimal, but some others with blocks close to Euston and Robinvale did not fare so well.
Joe Garreffa said the storm had pounded half of one of his blocks, leaving the other half undamaged.
The sight of the storm approaching had been “pretty scary, for sure”.
“Anyone close into town probably got hit,” Mr Garreffa said. “For those who had covers, it was probably not as severe.”
Some flash flooding was reported in Robinvale after the deluge and at least one business, J&J Trash and Treasure, advised its customers on social media that the store would be temporarily closed because of internal water damage.
