Peach growers and traders in the Swat District -a district in the Malakand Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan- say they have suffered heavy losses caused by the recent hail and windstorms.
According to the Swat Agriculture Research Centre, about 70,000 tons of peach of various varieties is produced in Swat where the harvest begins in May and continues till September. The valley produces about 70 per cent of the total produce in the country.
The farmers claim that this year, hailstorms and rain damaged more than 50 per cent of the orchards; mainly those of peaches, apricot and plums.
: Nichola McGregor Fresh Plaza Wed, 17 Jun 2020 13:16 UTC
A massive hail storm on Tuesday evening in Lleida and Huesca hit the stone fruit growing areas of Torres de Segre, Soses, Alcarras, Aitona, Binaced, Binefar, Ximenelles, Alcolea de Cinca, Bellver de Cinca and Fraga. This occurred just right before the harvest was due to take place.
According to the grower and exporter Frances Pena, director of Olimpfruit (Seròs, Lleida) these affected areas represent around half of the production of Lleida. There are approximately 7500 hectares severely affected, between 60 and 100% in the areas of Alcarràs, Soses and Torres de Segre, the most affected. In the other areas the damages could be between 20 to 30%.
Tasos Kokkinidis Greek Reporter Wed, 17 Jun 2020 12:59 UTC
An unseasonable hailstorm hit the region of Drama in northern Greece on Tuesday night, causing major disruption to the roadways there.
The hailstorm in the city of Drama was particularly severe. Such a dense layer of ice pellets accumulated there that in some places it was 30-40 (11-15 inches) cm thick, according to a report by AMNA.
Earth-moving excavators from the municipal authorities were used to clear the city's roads from the dense, thick blanket of hail.
Residents in North Yorkshire have captured stunning photographs of a funnel cloud heading through the county.
It was first spotted in Ingleton yesterday afternoon and has since made its way towards Ribblehead.
According to the Met Office, funnel clouds form when a rotating column of wind draws in cloud droplets, making a region of intense low pressure visible.
Heavy rains cause flooding in Varna, Bulgaria - June 15, 2020.
Varna is a port city and seaside resort on Bulgaria's Black Sea, next to the coastal resorts of Golden Sands, St. Konstantin and Albena. It's famous for the "Gold of Varna," 6,000-year-old Thracian jewelry discovered in a necropolis, which is displayed inside the Archaeological Museum, along with Greek, Roman and Ottoman antiquities. A bar-lined waterfront promenade fronts 19th-century Primorski Park.
Dr. Josh Eachus wbrz.com Tue, 16 Jun 2020 12:05 UTC
For the second consecutive year, the Mississippi River is spending a chart-topping number of days above the flood stage of 35 feet. As of Monday, June 15, the gauge at Baton Rouge had been above flood stage for 150 consecutive days (since January 18). That is the second highest total on record; only 2019 went longer with 212 spanning from January 5 to August 4. For perspective, historically, most Mississippi River flood events have lasted for well under 100 days.
At least 63 people have been killed or are missing and almost 500,000 have been evacuated as downpours continue to batter southern parts of the country, unleashing wide-ranging floods, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.
As of Monday, almost 8.5 million people in 24 provincial regions have suffered rain-triggered floods, which also caused direct economic losses of some 20.7 billion yuan (S$4 billion), it said.
The flood control situation remains grim as the national observatory renewed a blue alert-the lowest in a four-tier color-coded weather warning system-for rainstorms at 10 am Monday.
For the 24 hours starting at 2 pm Monday, heavy rain and rainstorms are forecast in some areas, including Zhejiang, Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, the National Meteorological Centre said.
Yesterday afternoon, a huge rainstorm hit Budapest and flooded the streets of the Hungarian capital and even claimed a life. The heavy rainfall arrived suddenly with gusty winds and caused problems in several places around Budapest, but also affected the countryside. The thunderstorms and heavy rain challenged the emergency services in many regions of Hungary and in Budapest; firefighters were alerted to more than seventy locations in half an hour.
The storm, lasting several hours, caused damages around the capital, including Nyugati square, Móricz Zsigmond circle, Árkád shopping center, and IKEA near Örs Vezér square. A tree fell across Alkotmány Street, several BKV services stopped intermittently. The storm damaged overhead lines and safety equipment of the railway as well, and although much of the damage has been repaired, delays are expected in some places even on Monday.
One person died and at least 2 are missing after flooding caused a bridge to collapse in Kwara State, western Nigeria.
The incident follows recent flooding in Borno state in the country's north east, and in the southern coastal state of Akwa Ibom.
In Kwara, heavy rainfall triggered flooding in the Ilorin area of the state. A bridge over the Asa river in Oko-Erin collapsed late on 13 June, throwing a vehicle and 5 passengers into the flood waters below. Two people survived and three are still missing. As of 15 June, search and rescue operations had found the body of one victim. The search for 2 missing people continues.
"The purpose of GLADIO was to attack civilians, the people - women, children, innocent people, unknown people, far removed from any political game. The reason was quite simple: to force the public to turn to the State and demand greater security. Under a strategy of tension, you 'destabilize in order to stabilize', to create tension within society and promote conservative, reactionary social and political tendencies."
~ Italian neo-fascist whose prosecution led to the discovery of NATO's 'Gladio' networks across Western Europe
- Vincenzo Vinciguerra
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An interesting read - "My Big Toe: A Trilogy Unifying Philosophy, Physics, and Metaphysics" - by Thomas Campbell (B.S. and M.S. in Physics)[Link]
