28 Sep 2015

Farmers under pressure due to flood damage

8:32 am on 28 September 2015

Many farmers are still on the back foot and are nowhere near recovering from damage caused by the western North Island flooding in June.

The flooding aftermath at the McBrides' farm.

The flooded farm of John and Philippa McBride in the eastern hills in Taranaki at Tututawa. Photo: SUPPLIED / Philipa McBride

A Ministry for Primary Industries report shows the flooding and storm damage is estimated to be $70 million, with the worst affected farms dealing with $500,000 worth of damage behind their farm gates.

Parts of the Taranaki, Whanganui, Manawatu and Rangitikei regions were severely damaged by flooding, slips, silt and erosion when a severe storm brought 300 mms of rain to some areas.

Taranaki Rural Support Trust coordinator Marcia Paurini said in her region, some farmers were under a lot of pressure, with little extra cash to fix the damage.

"This is part of the stress and the pain that farmers are feeling at the moment.

"Two properties in Taranaki, farmers have estimated the cost to repair it themselves and there's one at $508,000 and the other at $665,000.

"Lots of bridges have been wiped out, they were uninsured because the excess was just too high for the farmers and they're having to try and resurrect these without any insurance," Ms Paurini said.

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