Heavy rain relief but we need more: farmers

Dairy farmer Denis Anderson hails the rain as a drought-breaker. Photo / Northern Advocate

Heavy rain that soaked most of Northland yesterday was described as tears from heaven by farmers who have been battling tinder-dry conditions for months.

But although Whangarei, Kaipara, Kaikohe and Kerikeri recorded between 30 and 35mm of rain in the 24 hours to midday yesterday, Kaitaia was not so lucky, with just 1mm falling.

A Te Kao resident was watering her garden about midday yesterday, saying the last rain that fell there was on January 23.

Principal rural fire officer for Whangarei Kevin Ihaka said the total fire ban covering Northland would not be lifted yet but he would consult his counterparts in the Far North and Kaipara.

"While the top surface is wet, it's still dry underground. We'll monitor the situation and see how we go."

Showers were predicted for today, with fine weather forecast to return for the weekend.

Northland, Auckland and Coromandel Peninsula experienced periods of rain, sometimes heavy with isolated thunderstorms, about mid-morning yesterday.

A series of lightning strikes set off alarms at business premises in Whangarei, with fire crews attending four calls within five minutes.

The Whangarei Rural Fire Brigade and the Northland Drought Committee were monitoring the situation, although both reiterated that at least 100mm of rain was needed to make a difference.

Committee co-ordinator Helen Moodie said the rain was helpful but another 100mm, ideally spread over four days, was needed to overcome soil moisture difficulties.

She said most of the patchy and isolated downpours would have run off, and with sunny conditions predicted for the rest of the week, things would dry out again.

Federated Farmers' Whangarei, Far North and Kaipara provincial president Denis Anderson said the rain came as a drought-breaker after seven months of below average rainfall.

He had had 50mm of rain from midday on Sunday to about 10.30am yesterday on his Kokopu property. "This rain looks like being a drought-breaker but things won't change unless we have follow-up rain before grass starts to grow."

He hoped substantial rain fell on Northland where farmers have had to buy stock feed from other regions and take their cattle south of Auckland for grazing.

Farmers of New Zealand operations manager Bill Guest was out carting water at his farm and was disappointed the wet weather would clear soon.

"This [rain] is tears from heaven. We need a week of this and if half of the Gisborne floods come our way, I'll be happy," the Te Kopuru farmer said.

Hokianga farmer Les King said showers fell for just over two hours from 9am yesterday.

"We've had a short, heavy downpour of between 5mm and 7mm which will help but not alter our situation."

Further north, the Kerikeri Weather Station had recorded 25mm of rain by 4pm yesterday, the highest daily total since October 19, when the Bay of Islands town recorded its last significant rainfall, 30.9mm.

Since then the closest daily rainfall had come to reaching double figures was on January 11 with 8mm.

Meat and Wool New Zealand said the east coast, Far North and central inland areas of Northland had received less than 30 per cent of the usual rainfall. The driest place was Kerikeri, which had recorded just 10 per cent of its long-term average rainfall over the same period.

Most areas in Northland would require 125mm to 140mm of rain to restore normal soil moisture levels.