Thursday 11th April 9.45a.m. Sunny and cool. 11.1 / 16.7kph SW, Hg 51%, 18.9C / 66F top of 21C / 70F. Mostly sunny. Marine wind and Hazardous surf warnings.
Moon is 7.1% - 11 days of prolific growth for above ground crops.
Some farmers in the region are facing hefty damage bills. (Supplied: Graeme Cochrane)
Farmers in the New South Wales Shoalhaven region are facing huge damage bills as they try to recover from the 12th flood in four years.
Graeme Cochrane, from Kangaroo Valley, milks 350 Jersey cows on lush river flats flanked by Barrengarry Creek and the Kangaroo River.
His farm recorded more than 200 millimetres of rain during last week's downpour and the intense fall higher up the catchment caused flash flooding.
"It was an absolute nightmare, to be honest … there's not a fence left standing on the farm," Mr Cochrane said.
"It was just a sight to behold — I've never seen anything like it and hope I don't for a very long time."
He said he had lost "tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in fencing", but that was not all.
"We've had a centre pivot irrigator go underwater — not completely lost but will need repairs," Mr Cochrane said.
"We're looking at over $100,000 in damage to our laneways, with culverts washed away.
"We've got a massive repair bill in front of us."
Jaspers Brush farmer Justin Welsh woke to find 80mm in his rain gauge on Saturday morning.
A storm soon after brought another 90mm in the space of an hour, which prompted flash flooding.
"We've had some sort of flash flooding that was fairly unusual in places that we haven't had before," Mr Welsh said.
"There's some fencing repairs to do, but they're sort of relatively superficial, and the real costs will be the loss of the ryegrass that we've planted.
"The outpouring of support from friends, neighbours and even strangers has been overwhelming," he said.
"People have helped clean up, friends brought round a chocolate cake and meals for us yesterday … it's been wonderful.
"At this point in time we've really needed it — we're so ever grateful."
Mr Cochrane said there was one thing he needed more than anything else.
"We need at least 10 weeks of dry weather to get our paddocks back in shape," he said.
"Reseeding is our top priority right now … we've got to get good feed for the cows into late winter."
ABC
Moon is 7.1% - 11 days of prolific growth for above ground crops.
12 floods in four years leave Shoalhaven farmers facing huge clean-up costs
1 hour 26 mins ago
Some farmers in the region are facing hefty damage bills. (Supplied: Graeme Cochrane)
Farmers in the New South Wales Shoalhaven region are facing huge damage bills as they try to recover from the 12th flood in four years.
Graeme Cochrane, from Kangaroo Valley, milks 350 Jersey cows on lush river flats flanked by Barrengarry Creek and the Kangaroo River.
His farm recorded more than 200 millimetres of rain during last week's downpour and the intense fall higher up the catchment caused flash flooding.
"It was an absolute nightmare, to be honest … there's not a fence left standing on the farm," Mr Cochrane said.
"It was just a sight to behold — I've never seen anything like it and hope I don't for a very long time."
He said he had lost "tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in fencing", but that was not all.
"We've had a centre pivot irrigator go underwater — not completely lost but will need repairs," Mr Cochrane said.
"We're looking at over $100,000 in damage to our laneways, with culverts washed away.
"We've got a massive repair bill in front of us."
Compounding effects
Flooding is not unusual in the Shoalhaven, but this event was different because of the intensity of the storm over an already saturated catchment.Jaspers Brush farmer Justin Welsh woke to find 80mm in his rain gauge on Saturday morning.
A storm soon after brought another 90mm in the space of an hour, which prompted flash flooding.
"We've had some sort of flash flooding that was fairly unusual in places that we haven't had before," Mr Welsh said.
"There's some fencing repairs to do, but they're sort of relatively superficial, and the real costs will be the loss of the ryegrass that we've planted.
'Wonderful' support
Mr Cochrane said the community had turned out in force to support farmers."The outpouring of support from friends, neighbours and even strangers has been overwhelming," he said.
"People have helped clean up, friends brought round a chocolate cake and meals for us yesterday … it's been wonderful.
"At this point in time we've really needed it — we're so ever grateful."
Mr Cochrane said there was one thing he needed more than anything else.
"We need at least 10 weeks of dry weather to get our paddocks back in shape," he said.
"Reseeding is our top priority right now … we've got to get good feed for the cows into late winter."
ABC
