The night of the 13th February was a memorable one for all the wrong reasons. Cyclone Gabrielle had brought intense rainfall to the Thomsen’s Patoka property and turned Lindholm Farm into a swathe of slips and debris. They woke to more than 5km of farm roading out of action, access to town eliminated by a bridge wash out and an immeasurable amount of work ahead to get the farm back on track. Brothers Hamish and Greg Thomsen talk about their experience of Cyclone Gabrielle, the insurance claims that followed and what they have learnt along the way.
Three generations live at Lindholm Farm in Patoka. Hugh Thomsen, son Greg and grandson Rupert, now 18 months old. There are two houses, about 4km from each other and a significant piece of roading infrastructure that snakes its way through the property joining Hugh’s house with Greg and his wife Emma’s place.
Greg’s brother Hamish lives in Napier. As an accountant, he is pretty good at adding things up, but he did not factor the repair of more than 20km of fence lines into his plans for 2023.
“I phoned Dad first thing the next morning and asked how the night had been. The whole hillside had come down, travelled over the road and landed in Dad’s garden, blocking the driveway. We were lucky the house was untouched but I was quickly worried about what Greg’s place and the rest of the farm might look like.”
“The hills quite literally gave way under the weight of the rain. We lost an estimated 40 to 50 hectares of grazeable land. Much of which had washed down the valley, causing devastation along the way” added Hamish.
Access became a real problem for Greg who took two hours to make the usual 5-minute journey to his Dad’s house. The two-wheeler was the only vehicle capable of safely navigating the new terrain.
Greg said they were lucky and that things could have been much worse but the workload ahead was a daunting prospect.
“We had no power and no access to town after the bridge over the Mangaone River was wiped out. The main bridge through the farm was also gone, meaning we had to travel via neighbouring farms taking up to half an hour one way to access what would have previously been 5 minutes. With fences down, cattle were everywhere. It was chaos” he said.
Greg and Emma’s son Rupert, 6-months-old at the time, was blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding around him
From his home in Marewa, Napier, Hamish quickly became the conduit between town and country for the Thomsens.
“I would drive out to the Rissington where the previous bridge was with jerry cans of petrol to keep the generators going. They would then be rafted across to Greg on the other side. It was rigmarole, but it worked. We would have one ute on one side of the river for running supplies from town – and then another on the Patoka side for getting to and from the farm. Eventually a temporary ford was built which made coming and going easier”.
With Greg occupied on farm, Hamish took on the job of navigating insurance claims associated with the damage. The big-ticket items were the land slip that had arrived on Hugh’s lawn, four out of the farms five water systems out of action and fence lines lost to land slips.
“Once the hillsides gave way, so did the fences, water troughs and pipes,” said Hamish.
It was at this point, the brothers were grateful the property had a number of dams still intact across the farm.
“Stock can go without feed but they can’t go without water. We were able to get gates open that allowed stock to move through paddocks to the dams for water.”
Hamish said there was no mucking around when it came to their claims for the water system, fencing cover and other incidental damage on farm.
“They checked our account, lodged our claims, we sent through pictures and the money was in the account”.
The EQC claim associated with the landslip at Hugh’s has taken a bit longer. The cons that sit alongside the pros of having an insurance system for covering damage to land Hamish reflected.
When asked what some of the hardest parts of the process were Hamish mentioned the roadside fencing.
“These were 7-wire fences and it took about six months to get on top of these. We constantly had cattle getting out which becomes a real nuisance and hazard when roadside.”
The brothers still have another 5 kilometres of fencing to go, under their dad’s watchful eye.
“It does create opportunities for redesigning and shaping fences to best fit our farm business today and in the future and was the final nudge we needed to invest in our own post hole rammer. That has paid itself off ten-fold and we are now set up for additional fencing needs.”
And as for lessons along the way – Hamish said this was a kick in the butt to review and make sure the family fully understood what they had insured and what that would look like in any future event.
“I went through our policies – line by line. We had our water system insured for $5000, when the damage sustained took a $30,000 bill to replace. That is a big shortfall.”
“We had also renovated a shed but not actually adjusted that value in our insurance, so that was another hit for us and a wake-up call to stay on top of those smaller details, year on year. Don’t just pay your bill and move on – reflect on the year that has been for your business and ask questions if you want clarity.”
It was a year to be remembered for first time Dad Greg, and Hamish is looking forward to hanging up his hammer when the final fence is nailed.
“At the end of the day, we feel like we got off pretty lightly. FMG has taken the brunt of the financial losses off our shoulders and helped us navigate the claims process and as a family we have come together to get the farm back on track,” concluded Greg.
Now well stocked on generators, jerry cans and fencing gear, the Thomsen’s have just purchased a digger and bulldozer…just in case.
This story was produced in partnership with FMG.
