The first severe thunderstorms of this year caused agricultural damage in several regions of Austria on Tuesday, with hail, heavy rain and partly stormy winds. As Österreichische Hagelversicherung VVaG announced in the evening, storm cells, which moved in particular from the Waldviertel to the eastern lowlands and from the Graz region to southern Burgenland, mainly affected arable and fruit crops.

"After initial inspections by our experts, we expect total damage in the provinces of Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria to be in the region of three million euros," spokesman Mario Winkler said in a statement.

9,000 hectares affected
The majority of this, two million euros, is attributable to Styria. In the districts of Graz-Umgebung and Weiz, cereals, stone and pome fruits including net damage, strawberries, vegetables and grassland are affected on an area of 3,500 hectares.

In Lower Austria, the damage is estimated at 700,000 euros. Here, cereals, vines, fruit crops and grassland were affected on 4,000 hectares in the districts of Horn, Gänserndorf, Mistelbach and Wiener Neustadt Land.

Damage to cereals, corn, soybeans and strawberries (partly in harvest) in the districts of Güssing and Mattersburg in Burgenland amounted to 300,000 euros. An area of 1,500 hectares is affected.

Source - https://www.freshplaza.com