Hail devastates watermelon crops in Lorca, Spain

The hail storm that unloaded on Lorca on Saturday afternoon has damaged "hundreds of thousands of hectares" under cultivation in the districts of Marchena, Tercia, La Hoya, Purias and Campillo, where the watermelon harvest is considered lost and from the broccoli, according to the local president of the COAG Lorca agrarian association, Plácido Pérez-Chuecos. The mayor of Lorcam Diego José Mateos, together with Pérez-Chuecos and farmers from the area, visited the most affected areas on Sunday May 14 and requested the declaration of an area seriously affected by a civil protection emergency (formerly known as a catastrophic area) to the Autonomous Community "which is the competent authority to request it in turn from the Government of Spain, so that farmers can receive aid". In this sense, he explained that during the next few days "the appropriate assessments of the damage suffered by their crops will be carried out, especially in the broccoli, artichoke and watermelon plantations, ...