Photo – Greenhill orchard
Nationals Member for Northern Tablelands, Brendan Moylan, is 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.
Mr Moylan's offices have been inundated with phone calls and emails from distressed constituents and business owners outlining the extensive damage and losses to their properties.
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.
"There has been a huge amount of devastation and destruction across the eastern side of the Northern Tablelands," Mr Moylan said.
"Thousands of residents have been without power for three days. They have lost perishables, have been without water, and businesses have not been able to trade.
"I have been in contact with Ministers Saffin and Dib, appealing for financial support to those affected across the region.
"While efforts have been made to restore power across the region, more support from the NSW Government is urgently needed."
Greenhill Orchard at Arding, outside of Armidale, has experienced catastrophic damage to its 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."
