SWABI/MANSEHRA: Rain and hailstorm badly damaged the tobacco and wheat crops in Swabi district on Wednesday.

The hailstorm started at 5:30pm and continued for half an hour. However, the downpour continued till late in the evening and there is more rain forecast for Thursday (today).

The hailstones hit both Virginia and white patta tobacco widely grown in the district. Gul Nabi Khan, a farmer of Naro Banda village, said that Virginia tobacco was planted recently by the growers and the impact of the hailstones was not much on it, but the white patta tobacco, widely used in naswar, was badly hit. In addition, the hailstorm also damaged wheat crop. According to farmers, the hailstorm at this stage would impact the yield.

In Mansehra, heavy rain lashed the upper parts of Hazara, which brought a pleasant change in the weather on Wednesday. The rain that started in Mansehra, Battagram, Kohistan and Torghar districts in the afternoon continued intermittently till evening.

The Hazara division had witnessed heavy rains in the end of winter. However, afterwards the weather had changed considerably and people had started feeling the summer heat for the last couple of weeks.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2015

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