Rain relief for farmers
East coast hills were so cracked and dry that the grass looked as though it had been bleached, but in just a couple of days green shoots have begun poking through.
Wairarapa has been the big winner, welcoming more than 100 millimetres of rain in the past three days, and Hawke’s Bay was due to get heavy rain last night.
Federated Farmers Wairarapa president William Beetham said farmers in his region were ecstatic but they were still hoping that Tararua, to the north, would get more moisture.
With the Covid-19 response slowing down movements, stock sales and processing, the drought relief was critical, Beetham said.
‘‘It was really becoming a very difficult situation so this is very important.’’
Beetham said the rains came in the nick of time. ‘‘It wouldn’t want to be too much later. It gives us a good two months to rebuild feed covers. This will recharge all the dams and waterways for stock water for essential needs.’’
He said it appeared that a lot of the recent rain had soaked into the ground, and more predicted rain in the next couple of days should push more moisture into the soils.
‘‘It will enable us to start working really hard to set up our feed supply for winter as the days get shorter and colder.’’
Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway said they had their fingers crossed for rain last night because many places just in from the coast hadn’t had much rainfall.
Further up the coast to Hawke’s Bay and the East Cape, coastal areas had 15mm to 60mm, but desperate farmland under the Ruahine Range had had only smatterings.
Heavy rain was predicted inland of the east coast of the North Island last night.
MetService meteorologist Georgina Griffiths said it was great news for those regions that got ‘‘beautiful rain’’, but there were still many areas of the North Island such as Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Coromandel continuing to labour under a drought.
‘‘The rest of the North Island could absolutely do with another 100mm of rain – we’ve had spotty showers at best over the last couple of weeks.’’
To the south, Blenheim and Nelson were still hoping for more rain relief, while the east coast of the upper South Island had substantial falls over the past couple of days.
Watering restrictions have been lifted by all three Wairarapa councils.