For more than three decades Mildura grape grower Kevin Leach has insured the yearly crop that is his livelihood. Until this year. And when hailstones larger than golf balls smashed through the state's north west in a 15-minute super storm on Friday night, 30 acres of his Chardonnay crop was almost completely wiped out. Mr Leach, who supplies grapes to Treasury Wines, Lindeman's and Stanley Wines lost "well over $100,000" by his own reckoning. "For 32 years I've always insured my crop and this is the first time I haven't, now I'll have to live with that," he said of his decision, which was brought about by rising premiums.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="620"] Kevin Leach pictured at his family property with devastated crops. Photo: Casey Ridings[/caption]

He was just one of many farmers counting a heavy cost on Saturday after the wild storms destroyed stone fruit, wheat and other crops in and around Mildura. The storm struck at about 7.40pm. Within six minutes, the area received 20mm of rain. "It got all eerie; you could see the build up of the clouds and the hail started falling gently but once the wind came it really struck," Mr Leach said. "You could ... hardly see, it was that thick. I was at the house and the noise was just deafening.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="620"] Kevin Leach pictured at his family property with devastated crops from the storm that hit Mildura overnight  Photo: Casey Ridings[/caption]

"As soon as the hail stopped we walked outside.  It was mushy and there was lots of water on the ground. "Even in the bunches that did survive – they've got a lot of damage and by tomorrow afternoon they'll be dying off quickly.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="620"] Red Cliffs farmer Hardeep Singh's almond crop was wiped out in  Photo: Hardeep Singh[/caption]

"There's not a lot you can do; the crop's gone, it won't come back again." Mr Leach, who runs the vineyard with his wife, said he would not know the full extent of the damage until Monday, when suppliers visit the vineyards. He has more crop 500m down the road from his property, which he is yet to see. "The reality hasn't sunk in yet. It'll be a little while yet," he said. The hail, fierce winds and heavy bursts of rain caused enormous damage to north-west Victoria, leaving fruit growers in the region devastated. "Because of the hail, the wind and the rain, farmers, stone fruit growers and grain growers have sustained significant damage to their crop," a State Emergency Service spokeswoman said. "There are a lot of agencies going out to assess the impact today, including SES, CFA, government departments, agricultural experts; lots of people are heading there and helping out." Red Cliffs, just outside Mildura, was one of the worst-affected parts of Victoria. The Bureau of Meteorology said the storm, accompanied by "huge hail and wind gusts of around 96km/h", had also devastated Merbein and central Mildura. "They ended up receiving 30mm of rain, and the bulk of that fell within 15 minutes," Bureau forecaster Michael Efron said. Red Cliffs almond farmer Hardeep Singh said his $580,000 crop, which wasn't insured, was almost completely wiped out by the storm. His house, where his parents and brother also live, flooded from the rain and hail. "It was just intense," he said. "You couldn't step outside. Our house windows broke as well, and then it just completely wiped the full crop off. "A lot of the trees are actually damaged so they've lost a lot of the next year's crop bud, so it might be a two-year cycle [before the next crop]." Mr Singh said it had been "devastating"  waking up to see all the almonds on the ground. "It's literally like we're harvesting them, but we're not." Across Victoria there were 430 calls to SES for assistance between Friday night and Saturday morning – 380 of those were in the Mildura area. "Most of them were for building damage, roofs damaged with tin coming off roofs, and tiles coming off roofs," the SES spokeswoman said. "So when that wind and hail came through, buildings were damaged, and heavy rain saw many properties affected by water coming into them. "The next category was trees down and there were lots of trees down." Due to the high volume of calls in the area, she advised people to be patient and call their insurance company as soon as they can. Reports of a tornado or "mini-tornado" around Mildura were unconfirmed, Mr Efron said. "For now it was a severe thunderstorm, we have to do an analysis of the damage path before we can confirm it was a tornado," he said. By Saturday afternoon conditions in the north-west had eased, and a deep low pressure system had moved south. "That will move eastwards over the next 24 to 36 hours, but over victoria we are still likely to see some showers and thunderstorms today over eastern parts of the state, especially across Gippsland," he said. The storm completely missed Melbourne, with only 2mm of rain falling up until 9am on Saturday. "Conditions for Melbourne you could described as quite muggy and humid today, with that low moving eastwards," Mr Efron said. "The winds will pick up this afternoon, increasing to around 35 to 45km/h. The bayside areas will be worst hit by those winds. "We will see conditions tending to be more wintry into Sunday. Over the next 24 to 36 hours I think we're looking at 10 to 20mm for the Melbourne area." The SES warned people inspecting their properties for storm damage to be extra careful. "Climbing on roofs and ladders is something we would not encourage, in some areas there is a lot of debris so we would encourage residents to take care when cleaning up to avoid injury," the spokeswoman said. The next warm beachgoing day will be Thursday, with no rain or wind – temperatures will be in their late 20s in the south of the state, and up to 30 degrees in the north. Source - http://www.theage.com.au