Farms under a sea of water
A sea of water sits above the Scobie’s farm.
It’s one of the worst affected areas on the Wyndham Rd between Wyndham and Mataura, but the family who own it haven’t had a chance to assess the damage properly yet.
Instead, they’ve been busy helping people in Wyndham where Pam Yorke, nee Scobie, used to be the community board chair.
She helped manage the evacuation in the town during the past few days.
Yorke said she knew the flood was coming.
The family started moving stock to other blocks on Monday night already, but Yorke said the land will be ‘‘unfarmable’’ for some time still.
Unlike other floods in the recent past, this one did a lot of infrastructure damage,’’ Yorke said.
The water will need to recede before she’ll know if any of the fences are salvageable.
‘‘They’ve just been pummelled by the force of the water,’’ Yorke said.
The long-term affects of the flooding will only be evident in the coming days, she said.
‘‘It depends on how long the water stays.’’
The Yorke’s aren’t expecting to get onto the farm for another week still.
This has been the highest flood they’ve ever seen, with water coming in at least one metre above farm fences.
Yorke is hoping for rain to wash away the silt that’s now on her land.
She said the farms that were most affected were in Mataura Island and Fort Rose, where roads were still closed yesterday afternoon.
The fact that the floods happened so quickly could be good news, Yorke said.
‘‘Usually when they come in quick, they go out quick,’’ she said.
Yorke said farmers in the region would need lots of emotional support from their communities over the coming months while they rebuild.
The physical support, she said, would come from the Farmers Army who are believed to be mobilising this weekend.
Federated Farmers and the Rural Trust has also already sprung into action, Yorke said.
Southland farmers affected by the recent flooding are being reminded that support is available from various sources, including the Ministry or Primary Industries, Emergency Management Southland, the Rural Support Trust, and industry organisations.
Emergency Southland controller Bruce Halligan said ‘‘our priority is for farming families to remain safe, which starts with boiling drinking water for at least one minute if there has been any surface flooding near a farm water supply.’’