Bowhill cropper Ham Ackland was preparing his header for harvest, which was still about two weeks away, when last Friday’s freak storm front came through.
“It was only light hail at first and rain, but then the wind picked up, so I sheltered in the shed and the hail and the wind became unbelievable,” he said.
So unbelievable that one of Mr Ackland’s field bins 200 metres away flew over the shed roof and bounced into the side of the house 20m away.
Another field bin took a different trajectory and ended up 1 kilometre away, going through six fences and across the bitumen road.
“I just stood there with the dog dumbfounded,” he said.
“I was too scared to leave the shed, because I don’t think someone would have survived being out in that weather.
“We lost six field bins that day.
“When the storm passed and we were surveying the damage in the paddocks, I was astounded to see the debris and the dead magpies, which had been caught out in the open and just didn’t survive the hail.”
Mr Ackland said they had hail about the size of a 20-cent piece, which decimated almost 100 per cent of his crops – 1200 hectares of wheat, barley and field peas.
He has never made an insurance claim before.
“The crops were some of our best ever,” he said.
There is also a huge lake out the front of Ackland house, created by the storm.
“That water has come from a long way because we didn’t get that much rain,” he said.
Mr Ackland had been amazed by the support from the local community.
“The amount of people that have called, texted, visited, offering help to clean up or commiserate, has been astounding,” he said.
“It’s great to live in a community that looks after each other, because it makes you realise that you are not alone.”
Agriculture Minister Leon Bignell has urged all SA producers affected by the storm to report their damages to the Riverland Storm Recovery Hotline.
- Storm Recovery hotline 0476 834 530.