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The owners of a popular fruit and vegetable store in Motueka had to run for cover when a “mini tornado” ripped through their glass house minutes before a freak hail storm.
Victoria Gardens Fruit and Vege owners Peter and Caroline Pomeroy were outside preparing for Saturday’s hail storm when they had to shelter in a shipping container of flying glass shards.
Peter Pomeroy said Stuff on Sunday he felt lucky to have survived the tornado, which came “out of nowhere” just minutes before the hail storm that hit Tasmania, hitting Motueka especially, with dozens of homes and businesses affected.
LUZ ZUNIGA
Friends and family arrived on Sunday to help with the cleanup.
The Pomeroys took refuge in a shipping container near the chicken coop, where they stored a few tons of chicken feed and other materials. Pomeroy had to keep the door closed while his wife leaned against the walls.
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“I managed to keep the door closed, but the thing just moved around us, the tornado rumbled on it. He didn’t pick it up, but he moved it. “
The shipping container was moved about 2 inches from the base it was on.
LUZ ZUNIGA
Victoria Gardens owner Peter Pomeroy said he and his wife were lucky to be by the shipping container when the tornado hit.
Pomeroy said it all took about 30 seconds, but it was absolutely terrifying, and Caroline, still recovering from a recent surgery, was injured in the rush to shelter and during the storm.
“I’m lucky to wake up and hug my wife this morning,” Pomeroy said.
He said that while they were out he could see it coming, but at first he didn’t know what it was.
“Beyond this [shipping] container I could see plastic things floating overhead … then there was a bunch of things underneath it, then the wind hit. “
Pomeroy said he was thankful that the couple were still in the chicken coop when the tornado hit, as their usual way back to the house was right next to the glass greenhouse, which was shattered and spread hundreds of meters by the wind. .
PJ Muir
Hail on Motueka, Boxing Day 2020.
“We had neighbors who told us they saw it, they said it was like watching a movie. It just went down and then everything went back up. They thought their own windows were breaking, and then they realized it was glass from our [green]house falling from the sky. “
He said a pair of blown out doors from one outhouse had landed on his neighbor’s car, another was strewn across his own land and glass was everywhere.
“Four houses down they have it, about 120 meters away.”
Friends and family were already taking care of the clean-up, removing as much glass as possible to make the place safe to work during the rebuilding phase. He said he was overwhelmed by the support shown by the community.
“I had to turn them down for health and safety reasons because of all the glass, but knowing they are there has been incredible.”
He said his entire tomato crop was a write-off, tens of thousands of dollars, as there could be glass shards in the fruit, and his produce store had to close temporarily, awaiting an electrical evaluation after the flooding by the hail. storm.
Victoria Gardens / Supplied
The entire Victoria Gardens tomato crop will have to be destroyed, as all are at risk of having glass shards hidden in the fruit, Pomeroy said.
His Victoria Gardens business was just one of those affected by the severe and sudden hail storm that had damaged fruit, hops and businesses throughout Motueka Township and the wider region.
Motueka Fruit Growers Association President Richard Clarkson said some growers had likely lost 80 to 100 percent of their harvests.
“It’s devastating, that’s for sure. A minimum of 50 percent of the harvest in the region has been destroyed ”.
Climate change is expected to bring more powerful storms and more severe flooding, as warmer temperatures make New Zealand’s climate more turbulent.
