48-hour deluge flattens crops as farmers prepare for harvest

Farmers across WA's south tentatively welcome 'very, very wet 24 hours' after dry winter In short: A weather system making its way across Western Australia's south, brought a torrent of rain with some areas recording almost 100 millimetres over the weekend. The deluge comes after the South West Land Division had one of its driest Julys on record. What's next? Farmers in drier parts of the state that missed the deluge are hoping for a final drenching to bulk up crops, just weeks out from harvest. A weather system that formed in the north of Western Australia has made its way south over the weekend, bringing with it much-needed rain after a particularly dry winter, including one of the driest Julys on record. In the Goldfields, Kalgoorlie-Boulder recorded four times its normal September rainfall, while some gauges in the south of the state recorded almost 100 millimetres. Bremer Bay farmer Peter Buckenara said it was the most rain he had received all year. "We've had 78 mils at home here, and we've had 94 mils closer to town, so it's definitely been a very, very wet 24 hours,"he said. The beef and grain farmer said after 48 hours of constant precipitation, the heavy rainfall had damaged some crops, while other crops benefited from the rain. "Unfortunately, the oats are lodged or fallen over, so it means they'll either have to be swathed, or we'll try and pick it up with a harvester off the ground," he said. "Certainly a bit of damage there, but canola and wheat still looks fine." Balm for dry winter As the state's grain harvest approaches, Mr Buckenara said he hoped for a break in the rain to give his crops and fields time to dry out. "We're due to start hay early this week, and we'll certainly delay that just because the paddocks are too wet to get on," he said. "We're probably a week away from swathing, so that might still happen on time." Grain can clog machinery, and spoil if harvested when wet. Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Grace Abbott said the system that crossed the coast on Sunday night had largely dissipated, with conditions expected to dry later in the week. "It looks to be light to moderate rainfall about the south coast for both Monday and Tuesday," she said. "On Wednesday, we have a cold front brush by; it looks to be 1 to 5 millimetres, but some isolated 10 millimetres rainfall, particularly about the coast." Conditions too dry While it was a case of too much rain on the south coast, farmers about 200 kilometres north said much of the deluge fell around their farms rather than on it. Gnowangerup farmer Timm House said he received 2mm on one property and 19mm on the other. "We could see a lot of rain clouds went north and east of us [on] Saturday, and then Sunday we had a few showers go to the west of us," he said. "We're hoping for a bit more than 2 millimetres [on the second property]. It would have been nice to get 10 to 15, that would have been awesome rain. "But we'll definitely take the 19." Mr House said after a dry year that only saw the region crack about 200mm, he was hopeful about getting some rain ahead of harvest. "We're still hoping the crops are going to be OK, but the rain that we've got over the weekend, wherever that fell will pretty much, barring no other issues, it will get us get us an average yield," he said. "We would definitely take more rain."