The unexpectedly heavy snow fall of last weekend’s storm was fun to play in and great for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for locals to make a snowman in the front yard, but the damage was also widespread.
Many sheds, carports, fences and even the roof of some older homes collapsed under the weight of a foot or more of snow, while trees lost branches and the loss of power – in some cases still not connected as of this morning – has also caused widespread damage and loss.
Federal Member for New England Barnaby Joyce was quick to take to his socials at the beginning of the snow to make a quip about it being proof that Net Zero was bad (rather than how most interpreted it, clearly consistent with the science of more extreme weather events as a result of climate change). However, post storm he has dropped the ideological chatter for a return to Effective Local Member, lobbying hard for federal support.
In his latest Facebook video, on site surveying the damage in Uralla and Walcha, he pledged to “fight for it and get” Category C Emergency funding for local councils.
“Councils, businesses and individuals need support. Roofs have collapsed, businesses have had no phone coverage so have been unable to make any money or provide service.
“Farmers have had their pasture flattened for livestock and kilometres of fences are down, they need recovery assistance.”
“Councils need category C emergency funding in this section of the New England to be able to provide full recovery services and I have approached the Minister for Emergency Management to put our case,” he said.
He also highlighted the desperate need for alternative roads around the region to be upgraded, as the poor condition of alternative roads was again laid bare when the New England Highway was closed.
Member for Northern Tablelands Brendan Moylan is also appealing to the NSW Government for urgent financial support for local residents and businesses after Saturday’s snowstorms caused significant and widespread damage to infrastructure and services across the region.
He has reached out to Minister for Recovery Janelle Saffin and Minister for Emergency Services Jihad Dib requesting financial support for those affected by the storms, saying his electorate offices have been inundated with phone calls and emails from distressed constituents and business owners outlining the extensive damage and losses to their properties.
“There has been a huge amount of devastation and destruction across the eastern side of the Northern Tablelands.”
“Thousands of residents have been without power,” he said, “they have lost perishables, have been without water and businesses have not been able to trade.”
“More support from the NSW Government is urgently needed.”
Greenhill Orchard at Arding, outside of Armidale, has experienced catastrophic damage to their infrastructure.
Owner Tom Yeomans said the repair bill is estimated to be worth around 1.5 times the orchard’s annual revenue.
“The hail canopy is designed to withstand typical hailstorms, but was completely crushed by the extreme snow loads, along with the orchards underneath them,” he said.
“We estimate the hail nets to have a replacement value of $430,000 to 560,000.”
“It is difficult to estimate the loss of current and future production in the orchard damages, but it is near to 70 per cent of our operation as all of our best and most productive trees were the ones protected from hail and birds with the hail net structures.”
“Many trees may survive, but with lots of broken limbs, production is severely hampered for several years to come.”
Many businesses and institutions were forced to close due to damage, from UNE to the Armidale Golf Club.
While at the other end of the scale, Simone, a single mum in Armidale who was without power for two days, says it’s hard to recover from this kind of financial hit when already on a limited income.
“My kids are very fussy eaters with a few allergies and we live on a budget, so I buy and cook in bulk and put everything in the deep freeze.”
“We’ve lost the lot. Everything in the deep freeze, everything in the fridge. Easily over $2000 worth of food all gone,” she said.
“Who’s going to help us with that?”
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