The hailstorm that occurred on Monday night affected intensive crops in western Almeria. The Andalusian Government considers that DANA damaged more than 4,200 hectares of wintering area in Campo de Dalías, particularly in the municipality of El Ejido. The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, Ramón Fernández-Pacheco, visited the city on Tuesday afternoon where he visited, accompanied by its mayor, Francisco Góngora, one of the areas where the storm had the greatest impact. .
The councilor, who visited the greenhouse of Ejidense Juan Berenguel, explained that the Andalusian Government is working “from the first hour and in absolute coordination with the town halls” to be able to quantify the damage. “Now what we have to do is a rigorous damage assessment to then act and we will do it from the regional agricultural offices in collaboration with local administrations to help those affected through tax cuts or via agricultural insurance. What must be clear is that public administrations will be on the side of the sector,” he stressed.
So far and after the first investigations carried out by technicians from the Regional Agrarian Office of La Mojonera, some 4,264 hectares of greenhouses have been affected, mainly for cucumbers and Almería type peppers. “There are different levels of damage. At the worst extreme, we believe that there are some 400 hectares with very serious damage in crops and about 15 to 20 hectares where the greenhouse completely collapsed,” he explained.
The advisor insisted on the total commitment of the Andalusian Government. “We will be up to the task.” However, he stressed that “the time has come to assess the losses.”
Losses in this area and also in the Almanzora region where there were the river overflowed near Armuña and flooded several hectares of the municipalities of Almanzora, Cantoria and Olula del Río. In this area, water has caused damage to citrus and olive groves, but this can only be quantified once the water has been removed.
A similar situation is occurring in the Guadalhorce region, in Malaga, where citrus crops have been affected, especially in the municipalities of Álora, Cártama and Pizarra. In Almería and Malaga, in addition to the cultivation and wintering areas, there have been heavily affected rural roadsalthough the exact damage will not be known until the water is removed.
The tanks rise
The rains of this last day also had a positive side and that is that, as the advisor pointed out, some reservoirs where the situation is very critical like the Cuevas del Almanzora Marshes (Almería), the water from the dam totaled 4.5 cubic hectometers and it is expected that this figure will continue to increase. Likewise in the province of Malaga where the reservoirs gained 20 cubic hectometers in one day. Likewise, the rains were very well received by autumn crops such as cauliflower, broccoli and artichoke.
