DESPITE a $50 million damage bill, the region's farmers have welcomed recent rainfalls which have gone some way to setting them up for a positive season. A fierce storm which tore through parts of the Darling Downs on Christmas Eve flattened crops and destroyed millions of dollars worth of infrastructure. AgForce grains president Wayne Newton said insurance assessors and farmers had conservatively estimated the bill to be more than $50m. But there is a glimmer of good news for some farmers, Mr Newton said, with soaking rains putting some producers in good stead to plant a late summer crop and try to recoup some of the losses. "The storm hit in mid-growing season and its far comment that a lot of the crops were looking quite good despite a dryer growing season," he said. "This one (the storm) came out of the blue and it certainly is a bit of a kick in the guts. "But most of the growers in that area, they're pretty resilient." Mr Newtown said the storm cell was about 10-15km wide when it tore through the area southeast of Cecil Plains to the western side of Bowenville, to Peranga north to Bell and into the foothills of the Bunya Mountains. Source - thechronicle.com.au