As wind gusts of 263km/hr (164mi/hr) batter Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays, monster storm Cyclone Debbie has moved intensely but slowly toward the coast of mainland Far North Queensland in Australia. The cyclone is moving further south than in previous events like this, which is good news for banana growers but not so positive for tomato and capsicum (pepper) farmers. 

With its eye having just reached the coast, the Category 4 cyclone is not only threatening destruction in its wake but there are also concerns about possible flooding.

"I think there’s going to be a significant impact on all of the growers in that region," says Rachel McKenzie, chief advocate at Queensland peak horticulture group Growcom.

"Then it depends on how it behaves. If there’s long-term and widespread flooding, it means they’re potentially going to lose topsoil.

"Then you've got some of your other tree crops that are going to be impacted more significantly as well."

McKenzie highlighted a range of winter vegetable crops were grown in the region, with a particular focus on tomatoes and capsicums (bell peppers).

"I think we can pretty much say that any grower who has crop in the ground will lose that crop as a consequence of this particular event," she said.

"That represents a huge loss of investment because particularly tomatoes have a significant investment in planting in terms of the trellising, etcetera."

Another emblematic produce item from the region is the Bowen mango, which is not only popular domestically but receives high demand in overseas markets including Asia and the U.S.

"My understanding is that the timing and the way the mango trees are grown these days, they’re not the big tall trees, they’re much smaller, and they’re hedged," she said.

"Potentially they will be damaged but not critically damaged. But it’s difficult to know – if the winds are strong enough or the flooding is long enough, then they will have an impact there."

She also said if winds were at a sufficiently high level then the result would be infrastructure damage, leading to "huge flow-on impacts".

"Most growers have a packing shed, and whilst most of them are built to cyclone standards, if you get a big enough cyclone blowing for a long enough time, that can be a problem. 

"There’s also the seedling nurseries – if those seedlings are damaged as a consequence, then that will delay the capability of these farms to put in their next crop."

Amidst the potential damages from wind, long-term rain and extensive flooding, she said the "flipside is they haven’t had a decent wet season up there for a few years".

"It will replenish the Don River and that’s not a bad thing, but it could potentially be too much of a good thing," she said, adding whether or not reservoir infrastructure was sufficient was a contentious issue.

"Growers up there do feel that they are limited in their capacity to expand by lack of water reservoirs and that’s certainly something they’ve raised repeatedly in discussions around plans to expand the capacity of northern Australia."

She said Growcom would start reaching out to growers tomorrow and encourage them to tally the damages, as part of the process to apply for emergency relief funding. 

#CycloneDebbie impacting Airlie Beach this morning. Conditions will intensify as the system moves closer. Stay inside. Stay safe. #TCDebbie pic.twitter.com/qnNmHETgek

— Qld Fire & Emergency (@QldFES) March 28, 2017

Footage of #CycloneDebbie from Hayman Island. We have been in the eye for nearly 1.75 hrs now. Eerily calm outside pic.twitter.com/SiBaZyF2u9

— Joe Hanna (@joehanna_) March 28, 2017

Photo: www.shutterstock.com

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