Helicopters are busy today in the Huon Valley helping orchardists save the remaining cherry crops after a severe rain event.

Farmers in southern Tasmania are assessing damage to fruit crops following heavy rain, and believe up to 70 per cent of remaining cherry crops could be affected..

Parts of the Huon Valley received more than 70 millimetres in the deluge on Tuesday night, which hit cherry growing areas at the wrong time. Listen Duration: 13 minutes 6 seconds 13 m Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Cherry growers in the Huon Valley say up to 70 per cent of the remaining fruit could have been damaged in Tuesday night's downpour. ( Tony Briscoe/James Jooste ) Download 6 MB

Howard Hansen, from Hansen Orchards, was due to start picking fruit this week, but said the rain has damaged the majority of his crop.

This morning a helicopter was used to get water off the cherries, and down the road at Lucaston Park it was a similar story.

Matthew Griggs called in a helicopter at first light to hover above the cherry trees and keep them dry.

"We still have around 80 tonnes to pick and many of the cherries left on the trees have split because of the rain," Mr Griggs said.

Mr Hansen said the rain was good for the upcoming apple harvest, but would not make up for the damage to the cherries. Listen Duration: 16 minutes 57 seconds 16 m Listen Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Southern Tasmanian farmers talk about rain damage to their crops ( Tony Briscoe ) Download 7.8 MB

Apricot and cherry grower Ian Newnham, from the Coal River Valley, said a part of the apricot crop was suffering splitting after the rain.

Mr Newnham said the apricots would now be re-classed as jam apricots and he was unsure how much damage had been caused to his cherries.

Over 150 millimetres of rain fell at Longley, near Mount Wellington, but berry grower Malcolm Wolfe said most of his crop was okay.

The rain also fell on parts of the East Coast and the Midlands, where falls have been well below average for the past 12 months.

The full extent of rain damage to fruit crops won't be known for several days.