When it rains, it pours. And when it pours, sometimes it hails so hard that some windshields get smashed.
The French government declared a “natural emergency” this week after storms in southeast France devastated farms and left their owners standing in fields full of ruined produce. Hail the size of ping-pong balls wreaked havoc, destroying everything from apricot trees to car windshields, as shown in this terrifying video shared by The Guardian. Two people have been killed, and several injured.
The violent storms of hail, rain and wind lasted only tens of minutes, but the intensity of the storms resulted in devastating damage and flooding.
https://www.facebook.com/cycloneofrhodes/videos/2702615926432722/
https://www.facebook.com/severeweatherEU/videos/324003808518792/
Declaring a natural emergency will allow the French government to allocate insurance money to the farmers who lost an entire season’s worth of crops in the disaster. It’s hard to say now how this will affect France’s food supply in the immediate future, but at least when it comes to fruits, you might be better off waiting for apple picking season.
