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Microburst in South Windsor flattens 2 acres of popcorn crops

SOUTH WINDSOR – After two years of drought conditions, the owner of the Podunk Popcorn farm in South Windsor is dealing with the opposite extreme. Wednesday’s s...

SOUTH WINDSOR – After two years of drought conditions, the owner of the Podunk Popcorn farm in South Windsor is dealing with the opposite extreme.

Wednesday’s storm brought with it a microburst and hail storm that hit the farm on Sullivan Avenue. The winds flattened stalks and ripped roots from the ground, as hail tore through the leaves.

“I was actually in a meeting and I heard over the roof this terrible loud thunder,” said Dan Dzen, Owner of Podunk Popcorn.

“I got out of the meeting, checked my phone and just about every neighbor up and down the road, business owners and friends had been calling my cellphone. ‘Hey, your corn's on the ground.’ So I came home last night about 8 o’clock and I saw how decimated it was,” he said.

The storm hit a four acre parcel of his farm. Two of those acres are a loss, which crop insurance does not cover.

“The ones that are still standing upright, they’re going to continue to grow and those we’ll be able to harvest. But this stuff that’s laid down, it’s eventually going to die off and you won’t be able to pick it,” Dzen explained.

His relatively new business had been growing quickly, but he says as a result of this, he’ll probably have the same yields as last year.

“That means we’re going to have the same stores and keep taking care of the same customers, but you know, maybe we don’t be able to expand as much,” he said.

Dzen said, “There's not much you can do about it. if I lose sleep over it, what difference is it going to make? It’s not going to bring the crop back. So the best we can do is take care of what we have, you know, keep hoping for the best.”

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