'Catastrophic' Canberra hailstorm destroys decades of CSIRO research, Australia
The catastrophic hailstorm that hit Australia's capital city Canberra on Monday, January 20, 2020, has caused widespread damage, including decades of glasshouse drought research by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the country's national science agency.
Houses, cars, properties, and buildings were severely hit by hails up to 5 cm (2 inches) wide, and among the worst-affected institutions were the CSIRO, with huge holes seen in the roofs of dozens of its glasshouses where experiments had been underway for over two years.
According to chief operating officer Judi Zielke, about 65 of CSIRO's glasshouses were affected, destroying decades of hard work. Fortunately, "none of our staff were hurt," said Zielke.
"Those 65 glasshouses, of course, held a lot of research and we’re really feeling for our scientists at the moment that are so dedicated to their work and have spent years working on some of the projects in there."
"Unfortunately, most of those projects will be totally lost."
The destructive hailstorm that tore through the national capital, damaging cars and property, on Monday has been labelled a “catastrophe”.
The ACT Emergency Services Agency received a record number of more than 1900 calls for help when the storm swept through
Campbell Fuller from the Insurance Council of Australia said the storm had been declared a “catastrophe”, and confirmed nearly 11,000 claims had been lodged in the ACT and Queanbeyan by early Tuesday.
This declaration means insurance claims will be expedited.
“The insurance council’s catastrophe declaration means those claims are prioritised by insurers, so insurers will be looking at how best to help those customers and help them as quickly as possible,” Mr Fuller said.
“It is certainly a very angry summer and we’re not even midway through the disaster season yet.”
A further 4000 claims were lodged from Monday’s storm in Sydney’s Sutherland Shire, and 3000 from Melbourne’s Sunday night storm.
thenewdaily.com.au
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