A heavy hailstorm, with hail the size of golf balls, was recorded in the afternoon of this past Monday in the Albacete municipalities of San Pedro and Balazote, flooding fields and dyeing the roads white.
Ramón Sáez, general secretary of the Union of Small Farmers and Ranchers (UPA) in Albacete, reported that the hailstorm was "very intense," causing damage in both municipalities, assuring that "the crops affected have been destroyed, as the area has been devastated," and also that any crop that had escaped the impact of the previous frost will surely be affected now, because, with the lower temperatures at night in those areas, all will have been frozen."
For his part, Jorge Navarro, secretary of the Association of Young Growers of Albacete (ASAJA) reports that "a heavy hailstorm was recorded around Cañada Juncosa. The area was small, but cereals and some olive groves have recorded quite a lot of damage." ASAJA has stated that serious damage has been observed in many crops, including cereals, almonds and garlic.
Hail and water in the municipality of San Pedro have resulted, according to ASAJA, in about 500 hectares affected in the Paraje de Haza del Rey, with the damage affecting crops such as cereals (wheat and barley), almonds and about 8 hectares of garlic, with 100% damage in all these hectares.
While waiting to gather more data about the damage caused by the storm in the province, ASAJA recalled that last week, in the municipality of Villamalea, about 300 hectares of vine and almond trees were affected by frost, with 90% damage to almost 200 of those hectares.
Source: eldigitaldealbacete.com
