Storm left some area farmers reeling

Aug. 01--Crop damage claims are beginning to roll in, showing farmers in Garfield and Whitman counties suffered some of the worst hail damage in decades from last week's severe storm.

Piper Herres, a crop insurance agent with Obenland and Low in Pomeroy, said Thursday she has dealt with nearly 100 claims of hail damage so far from the July 23 storm that swept through the area. Last year she handled 13 claims that were all fire-related -- none because of hail.

"This storm was widespread over the county," Herres said. "There were hits and misses, but there were many 100 percent losses."

Herres said it has been reported that Garfield County has not suffered such hail damage in at least a couple of decades.

Half-inch-sized hailstones, along with winds clocked between 40 and 70 mph, ripped through Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Whitman counties during the storm, devastating several crops. But Herres said the storm can be likened to a Midwestern tornado, where a farmer on one side of the road might have been hit, while his neighbor on the other side was left unscathed.

Whitman County Extension Agent Steve VanVleet said many of the crops that were damaged were close to being harvested.

"There are some areas that have wiped out the crop, but here it was very patchy," VanVleet said. "There was a five-mile path of hail that pulverized the crop. If it's close to harvest it will flatten them like a pancake -- shell out the heads, snap off stems -- it looks like you took a lawn mower out there."

Crops that were a little greener, he added, might have been more resistant to the hail.

Whitman County Commissioner Dean Kinzer, who farms south of Pullman, said peas in his area "just got beat into the ground. They're 100 percent loss. On my farm the barley looks to be 70 to 80 percent loss and wheat 50 percent."

Kinzer said he's been farming the same area for 40 years and the last time he saw this much damage was in 1978, when his crop was not insured for hail.

Although he's been hit three or four times since, it's not been a consistent problem. But he was insured for hail and fire this year.

Kinzer said he's expecting crop yields to be down by more than half.

"This year, the wheat was growing on some really nice flats and it would have gone over 100 bushels (per acre)," Kinzer said. "I'm hoping we can recover 50 bushels."

Herres said most farmers were covered with multi-peril insurance that is federally regulated. If the crop is a total loss and it would cost more to run the equipment than what the farmer could salvage, they may receive permission not to harvest.

"But most go ahead and harvest, because there is still some standing grain and they want to keep the production as close to a normal year as possible," Herres said.

Hedberg may be contacted at kathyhedberg@gmail.com (208) 983-2326.

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