Hailstorm takes town by surprise

A freak hail storm which swept up the coast on Friday afternoon turned a fine summer's day into something reminiscent of mid-winter at its very worst.

The storm hit Kaikoura at 3pm, with southerly winds gusting to 115kph and hail stones as large as golf balls reportedly falling in some parts of Inland Rd and south of Kaikoura.

Rosemary Goodman, who grows lettuces and herbs commercially, said she lost 80,000 lettuces.

She said some damaged stock would come back but she estimated the storm was likely to have stopped the business producing salad for three to four weeks. Fortunately her crops were spread over more than one block, and at her home on Kowhai Ford Rd they were virtually untouched.

"Unfortunately it's just one of those things," she said. "When you work with the land you have to breed resilience."

Mrs Goodman said born and brought up locals she had spoken to said it was the worst storm they had ever seen in the area.

Dutch tourist Martin Ooink, who was visiting friends in Kaikoura, said he was unaware of the sudden changes in New Zealand weather when he went out for a walk on Friday.

He set off to walk around the peninsula with just his summer clothes on but stormy conditions set in when he was half way round the track, with hail stones as big as marbles.

He managed to persevere until he reached South Bay, from where a Kaikoura resident picked him up and delivered him back to his friend's house at the base of Mt Fyffe.

A group of American tourists who were also walking the peninsula became scared when caught out in the hailstorm. The group, aged in their 60s and 70s, were rescued by a police officer who walked them out to safety.

Flash flooding in Churchill St and Bayview St saw icy drifts and extensive flooding in places. Around Kaikoura hail stones remained on the ground well into Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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