Blueberry growers hit hard by storms
Blueberry growers in Coffs Harbour's northern beaches say they have been hit hard by recent storms.
More than 600mm of rain have fallen across the region since Monday, and strong winds have ripped through some areas.
Gary Atwal has a blueberry farm at Sandy Beach, and says about two hectares of netting have been torn away by winds.
He says his father bought the farm 50 years ago, and this was the worst storm he has ever seen.
"He was saying he's never seen so much rain in such a short period, like continuous," he said.
"I mean you get downpours during storms, but I've never seen anything like that.
"Pretty much the loss of netting was the main impact and it's pretty costly to replace netting.
"We probably lost close to five acres of netting, and to replace that, by the time you count your labour, and your net replacement, you're probably up around the $100,000 mark."
Mr Atwal says the damage will take weeks to repair.
"You kind of don't even realise the extent of the damage until you start adding it all up," he said.
"Just the little things like your road wash-outs, everyone's copped it this time.
"You talk to pretty much any guy around here, they've copped it; some people lost netting, major wash-outs, dams are completely filled up with mud.
"It's just one of those things that mother nature puts on now and then."