Parts of the Mid North Coast looked like snowfields after a heavy hail storm swept through the region. The storm hit Corindi's blueberry industry the hardest, causing millions in damage. Severe thunderstorms along the Mid North Coast on Thursday caused isolated damage from Foster through to Grafton. North of Coffs Harbour in Corindi, the blueberry fields were battered by the hail. "It was twenty five minutes of cricket ball size hail, plus damaging winds which devastated eighty per cent of our crop," Ganesh Singh, Director of OzGroup Berries said. "In this area we have five farms on our road, and after the storm everyone was out trying to get the hail out of their bird netting. We've lost in the order of three to four hundred thousand dollars, plus repair costs on top of that. "We've also got macadamias which were in full flower, and most of the flowers are now on the ground, so next year's crop isn't looking too good either." Raspberry, cucumber, and tomato hot houses in Corindi were also damaged. Ganesh Singh estimates that the cost of the hail storm will exceed fifty million dollars. Federal Member for Cowper Luke Hartsuyker phoned farmers on Friday morning to gauge the extent of the damage. "I will be speaking to the Federal Agriculture Minister to discuss what sort of assistance may be available given the losses being reported," he said. Source - http://www.freshplaza.com