Farmers' nightmare came overnight. Armageddon in the south of the country. "The biggest storm since 2017"

Social media is flooded with photos of damage caused by storms that swept across southern Poland on the night of Thursday into Friday (5/6 June). The storms were accompanied by strong winds and hail the size of footballs.

Storms in southern Poland. Huge losses in crops

As reported by the monthly magazine "Agro Profil", the storms caused very large losses in the areas of Sandomierz, Kraśnik and Kraków.

"The fruit-growing region (Sandomierz), vegetable-growing region (near Krakow) and raspberry/strawberry region in the Kraśnik area do not exist! Yesterday, the largest storm since 2017 hit there. The damage is extensive and enormous. Despite the night, 2-5 cm hail fell and the wind reached 120 km/h. Such large-scale hail damage has not been seen in Poland for a very long time," it was written.

Hail the size of ping-pong balls

In the Świętokrzyskie province, high-voltage lines were torn down, power poles were knocked down, the wind snapped trees like matches and tore them out by the roots. The hail was 8 centimeters in diameter in some places.

"There is no doubt that yesterday we had the most intense storm incidents so far. Frontal undulations, mesoscale systems, almost hurricane-force wind gusts, hail the size of walnuts. (...) The most dangerous situation yesterday took place in Silesia, Małopolska, Świętokrzyskie and Lublin. Two storm systems with built-in mesocyclonic storm cells passed through these regions, which brought very heavy rainfall, hail up to 4 cm in diameter and very strong wind gusts, which caused a lot of material damage. Estimation of losses has been ongoing since the morning," wrote meteorologist Jarosław Turała on Facebook.

More storms are forecast for Friday

Friday, June 6, will be calmer in the south of the country, but the storm front will move north. Storms — although not as intense — can be expected by residents of Lower Silesia, Wielkopolska, the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship and the Pomeranian Voivodeship.

"They will bring hail and strong gusts of wind. The appearance of a tornado is not ruled out again (Wielkopolska). Caution should be exercised and we ask you to secure your property again," Turała warns.

Almost 1.6 thousand fire brigade interventions

The State Fire Service reported that in the last 24 hours, firefighters intervened 1,578 times in connection with storms. The largest number of reports was recorded in the provinces of Lesser Poland (523), Silesia (226), Mazovia (191), Lower Silesia (133) and Świętokrzyskie (111). On the night from Thursday to Friday, the fire department received 153 reports in the province of Lublin, 73 in the province of Lesser Poland, 56 in the province of Świętokrzyskie and 33 in the province of Silesia.

According to data provided by Karol Kierzkowski, spokesman for the State Fire Service, the reports primarily concerned flooded properties, basements and depressions in the ground, fallen trees blocking roads and threatening infrastructure, and damaged roofs and facades of residential and farm buildings. As a result of the events in Płock County, one person was injured.

(Source: Facebook, PAP)