Severe weather over the last few weeks has caused a significant amount of property damage in and around the city and farmers with crops in the fields have also been impacted by the hail and heavy rain.

Farmers east of the city were hit the hardest this week and a number of crops and fields were flattened by the force of strong winds and precipitation from the thunderstorms.

John Nicholls has been living on his land near Lyalta since 1980 and says he has never seen a storm like the one that passed over the area a few days ago.

“I’ve never seen a storm like this at this time of the year. I mean, we’ve had blizzards in the winter, we’ve had all kinds of snowstorms but nothing like this,” said Nicholls. “It was just a complete whiteout. You could not see anything out of the windows, the wind was howling.”

Many of the crops in the area were just weeks away from harvesting when the storms hit.

“We were sitting out on the deck there and I was looking and said that looks pretty ominous, I’m glad it’s not coming our way and then next thing there was a little breeze and then it got dead quiet and you generally know something is coming then and it hit and I’m guessing 60 to 70 kilometre winds and it was just straight sideways with hail for about half an hour,” said Ray Meon from Iron Bridge Farm. “It went on and on, that’s what really gets ugly about it.”

Moen says the cattle were spooked by the storm and it was a chore to bring them in during the downpour.

“Worse thing was we had cattle and the cattle they got through the fence and I’m out there trying to bring them back because they just panic in that type of situation,” he said. “The storm drives them, they put their tails to it and go.”

Moen also grows wheat and says his field looked like someone mowed it after Tuesday’s storm.

“That’s about as bad as you get there, where it just looks like it was mowed,” he said “Heavy harrow it when it gets dry and then just reseed and do it next year. There’s no feed value to this at all right now, not when it’s chewed as bad as that is.”

Agriculture specialists say many crops were completely written off and some producers will now have to consider their options.

“In a lot of cases, the crop leaves were stripped away completely and stalks are only four to six inches tall,” says Barry Yaremcio, beef and forage specialist, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry, Stettler in an article posted on the province’s website. “In these cases, this material is completely written off. However, if the crop was seeded a little later, and the head was just emerging out of the boot, there might be a chance for some second growth.”

Experts say crops that were damaged but not destroyed can be cut for greenfeed or left for cattle to graze on.

The severe weather is just another blow to farmers who are already dealing with drought.

Alberta's agriculture minister, Oneil Carlier, says he recently toured a number of regions that have declared local emergencies because of drought and says in some cases crops barley came up over his ankle.

It's estimated that crop yields this year could be 25 to 30 perent below the five-year average.

For information on crop insurance programs in the province, click HERE.

(With files from Kevin Fleming and The Canadian Press)