Tropical storm Hilary brought high winds and flooding to farms in southern California, but fruit and vegetable growers in the impact zone say the damage could have been much worse had the storm struck just a few weeks later.
Albert Keck, president of Hadley Date Gardens, said the Coachella Valley date orchard received around four inches of rain over the course of 12 hours, while high winds took out some of the orchard's trees.
But Keck, who chairs the Western Growers Association, said damage to his dates was "muted" because the fruit was in an early ripening stage and less susceptible to splitting due to the rain. If the storm had come in September, the damage would have been much worse, he said.
Albert Keck, Western Growers"It'll take some time to see what the extent of the damages are, but I'm optimistic that we'll be OK," Keck told Agri-Pulse.
Hilary entered the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico Sunday before crossing into southern California. According to the National Weather Service, the last cyclone with tropical storm status to enter the Golden State was Hurricane Nora in 1997.
Precipitation totals In Riverside County, where the Coachella Valley is located, varied widely, according to NWS readings. The storm brought 11.74 inches of rain to Mount San Jacinto, while the Coachella Valley got between 1.6 inches and 6.6 inches. To the north, San Bernardino County received between one and 11 inches.
Jeff Percy, who serves as the vice president of production for the Yuma, Coachella, and Imperial Valley growing regions for Ocean Mist Farms, told Agri-Pulse the farm "dodged a bullet" due to the timing of the storm.
Ocean Mist had only planted a portion of its winter celery and artichoke crops when Hilary hit. Some fields in the Coachella Valley were flooded and water washed out some of the planted crops, but Percy also said the impacts would have been far worse later in the growing season.
Don't miss a beat! Sign up for a FREE month of Agri-Pulse news! For the latest on what’s happening in agriculture in Washington, D.C. and around the country, click here.
"If it had been a month later, it would have been a disaster," Percy said.
Percy said the storm affected all three of its farming regions differently. The company's Coachella farm saw three to four inches of rain and 40- to 50-mile-per-hour winds, while its Imperial Valley operation to the south received around an inch or so, Percy said.
Yuma County, Arizona, got little rain — maybe a quarter- to a half-inch, Percy says — but saw fierce winds that knocked down utility poles and left houses without electricity.
Percy said prior to the storm Ocean Mist employees cut ditches around some of the planted fields to direct water away from the plants, which helped mitigate some of the impacts.
"We're lucky," Percy said. "We're thankful that it wasn't more destructive, stronger."
Mike Way, managing partner of Coachella-based Prime Time International, also said his farm fared better than he expected during the storm, although some of the bell peppers he planted saw damage from the wind and dirt washed out of other fields due to flooding.
"Overall, the damage in the Coachella Valley was minor compared to what we expected," Way told Agri-Pulse.
But Way said the two-and-a-half to four inches of rain that he received on his land in Ventura County may complicate the harvest currently underway for bell peppers. He said it will take time to determine the extent of the damage to those crops.
"I'm not able to harvest until Friday or Saturday, until the field dries out, and bell peppers don't do really well with that much water on them," Way said.
For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.
