Possible tornado at farm: Gary Baker’s farm is still recovering following severe weather on January 30.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
A possible tornado hit Numurkah’s Eden Farm Produce on January 30, killing a two-year-old cow.
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The Maine-Anjou and Shorthorn steer died when a tree was ripped out of the ground and crushed it.
“It was just in the wrong place at the right time,” farm co-owner Katherina Baker said.
Mrs Baker said the cow died instantly, but it was a loss to the farm as it was worth thousands of dollars.
Ripped from the ground: The tree fell and landed on the cow.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
Farm co-owner Gary Baker said the weather became more intense as the day went on.
“It didn't look like much but then the rain intensified, then just kept ramping up and got heavier, and then the wind started,” he said.
“At one point you couldn't see into the windows at all."
Once the weather started to settle, Mr Baker headed outside where he noticed fallen branches across the farm and severe damage to various trees.
“It was pretty impressive to see how far the branches were blown away from the trees that have come off, there’s debris from trees 100m away from the tree,” Mr Baker said.
He said while this would give him “many years of firewood”, the trees themselves would take years to recover.
Aftermath: Eden Farm has been left with mess that will take weeks to clear.
Photo by
Megan Fisher
“It's going to take us weeks to tidy up the mess; we didn't get any house damage or shed damage, but it will take me some time to cut up all the trees,” Mr Baker said.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Christopher Arvier said a weak tornado in the area was possible but had not been confirmed.
“There were very significant thunderstorms over the area,” he said.
“From the size of those thunderstorms, it is plausible a tornado could have hit.”
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