Photo taken on Jan. 20, 2020 shows the hailstones in the storm in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Liu Changchang/Xinhua)
Australia's peak science agency lost years of research, more than 1,000 homes lost power, and institutions and many cars were damaged as a catastrophic hailstorm hit the nation's capital on Monday.
CANBERRA, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Australia's peak science agency has lost years of research to a catastrophic hailstorm that hit the nation's capital on Monday.
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) on Tuesday confirmed that 65 of its glasshouses in Canberra, all of which were housing agricultural research, were damaged by the storm.
"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," CSIRO chief operating officer Judi Zielke told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
Photo taken on Jan. 20, 2020 shows the leaves and branches fell on the road after the hailstorm in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Liu Changchang/Xinhua)
"Unfortunately, most of those projects will be totally lost."
The vast majority of the projects were trying to improve crop sustainability and had been underway for more than two years.
"(They were) largely focused on environmental research, how to reduce the amount of water, chemical and fertilizer use," Zielke said.
Photo taken on Jan. 20, 2020 shows the hailstones in the storm in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Liu Changchang/Xinhua)
More than 1,000 homes lost power because of the storm and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Emergency Services Agency received more than 1,900 calls for help.
In addition to the CSIRO, institutions such as the National Museum of Australia and the Royal Botanic Gardens were also damaged.
The storm has been declared a "catastrophe" by the Insurance Council of Australia, with 11,000 claims already made in the ACT, most of which were for cars damaged by hailstones the size of golf balls.
Photo taken on Jan. 20, 2020 shows serious vehicle damages caused by huge hailstones in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Liu Changchang/Xinhua)
"The insurance council's catastrophe declaration means those claims are prioritized by insurers, so insurers will be looking at how best to help those customers and help them as quickly as possible," Campbell Fuller from the insurance council said.
"It is certainly a very angry summer and we're not even midway through the disaster season yet." ■
