In Nalthi Panchayat, 7 kilometres south east of Bhadarwah town, half a dozen villages including Kholra, Nalthi, Swong Pura, Kach, Basti and its adjoining villages in Athkhar area of Additional District Bhadarwah suffered heavy damage to the crops. Hailstorm also hit fruit orchards and vegetable fields.
"The hailstorm continued for about 39 to 40 minutes in many areas and damaged standing maize, fruit and vegetables crop completely," said Mohammad Yasir Wani, Sarpanch Nalthi.
Demanding immediate relief, Sarpanch said: "Ninety five percent of the population in our area is dependent on agriculture and sudden hailstorm damaged maize crop completely in 3,000 kanals of land, beside the fruit orchards and vegetable fields."
The farmers also appealed to the authorities to compensate the loss caused due to hailstorm.
Comment: Adverse weather events with their concomitant negative impacts on all types of food crops seem to be showing an increasing trend in the region lately, for instance over the last 14 months:
Hailstorm devastates north Kashmir's apple orchards
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Early snow damages apple harvest, packaging in Kashmir - Locals say heaviest snowfall for 40 years (UPDATE)
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