Hailstorm destroys 4 million avocados in under 10 minutes, Australia.

credit: Rami Mandov

A severe thunderstorms hit parts of New South Wales, Australia on March 14, 2019, with heavy rain, strong winds and hail between 2.5 - 7.6 cm (1 - 3 inches) in diameter.

A severe hailstorm that hit an avocado orchard in NSW's Northern Rivers destroyed an estimated 4 million avocados. 

80% of the fruit on 12 000 trees at one of the farms were knocked off after hail stones up to 7.6 cm (3 inches) in diameter hit the area.

The fruit was 3 months away from the harvest, so it's all immature, unsalvageable, Aussie Orchards' managing director Colin Foyster said. The remaining of the fruit on trees also had impact marks and trees themselves were also damaged, Foyster said.

The farm survived this year's drought and wildfires and was expected to deliver a record crop this year. Instead, it was hit by what is believed to be one of the biggest natural disasters to hit a single avocado orchard in Australia, ABC reports.


 

From torrential rain in the north to damaging hail in the west, our city was cleaning up today from a series of wild super storms. The dangerous weather smashed into properties, flooded roads and left the airport in chaos. #SydneyStorm #7News pic.twitter.com/bIr34iWYz9

— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) 15 maart 2019

A major cleanup will get underway across Sydney this morning after a super cell thunderstorm hit. The @NSWSES has responded to more than 600 calls for help with heavy rain and huge hail stones damaging roofs and bringing down trees. @tayloraiken_ #SydneyStorm #7News pic.twitter.com/8K6LyEyFZX

— 7NEWS Sydney (@7NewsSydney) 15 maart 2019

Hopefully Echofon lets me load such a large video .... but here is the storm over Sydney yesterday from above the clouds. Check out that central column of lightning! #SydneyStorm @p_hannam @WeathermanABC pic.twitter.com/CggRpgJWhJ

— Rami Mandow ????️‍???? (@CosmicRami) 14 maart 2019

That #Sydney #hailstorm was #EPIC - See all the incredible photos here!! #Sydneystorm #sydneystorms #lightning #hail #BOM @dailytelegraph https://t.co/RYyPb1hDZc pic.twitter.com/UoKxfnnAgH

— Nicholas Eagar (@nicholaseagar) 14 maart 2019

NSW emergency service said it responded to more than 620 calls for help that day. At one point, up to 25 000 homes were also without power in the thunderstorms.

More than 20 000 lightning strikes were recorded across the greater Sydney area.
Bron: watchers.news