The hail damages 100,000 hectares while the water reserve falls
Some 100,000 hectares of crops have been damaged by hail in just two days, the cherry of Jerte being very affected, among others. The episode of storms subsides and the reserve of dammed water continues to fall.
The intense storms accompanied by hail this week have caused damage to 100,000 hectares of farmland, especially in Navarra and La Rioja, as calculated by the Spanish Association of Insurance Entities of Combined Agricultural Insurance (Agroseguro).
During the afternoon of Monday, the cold drop affected the north and this peninsular caused “significant damage” in numerous areas and crops, especially in Navarra and La Rioja, where rainfall caused the overflow of some Rivers.
By zones, in the Autonomous Community of Navarre, the greatest damage has been concentrated in the Ribera and in the Media region; while, in La Rioja, the regions of Rioja Baja and Rioja Media have been the most affected, with damage to cereal, wine grapes, vegetables and fruit trees. There have also been damages in Aragon, with the province of Zaragoza as the province most affected, especially the districts of La Almunia, Daroca or Calatayud.
In this area, the “large size” hailstones in some localities affected cereal crops, fruit trees, vines and vegetables; There were also storms in Teruel and Huesca, although of less intensity.
And in Castilla y León the damages have been especially intense in Burgos and Soria, although they have also been declared sinister in winter cereals, corn, dried beans and potatoes from the areas of Páramo, La Cepeda and Los Oteros, in the province of León , have explained from Agroseguro.
Finally, in Galicia, the storms affected, mainly, the vineyard of Barco de Valdeorras and Verín-Monterrey, in Ourense.
These accidents add to those of last Sunday, when intense hail in the Valencian Community caused damage to the vineyards of Requena and Utiel and Castilla-La Mancha (Manchuela de Cuenca and Albacete); vineyards, cereals and garlic were also affected. Agro-insurance has advanced that the planning of the appraisals has already begun, for which reason it has urged the insured to send the accident reports “as quickly as possible”.
Damage to the Cherry of Jerte
And also have affected productions such as cherry in Valle del Jerte in Extremadura, as reported by sources of the Union of Small Farmers. UPA-UCE Extremadura has made the first estimates of the losses, which figure in 700,000 kilos of cherries whose market value for farmers could reach two million euros.
Many farmers had all their production concentrated on the affected varieties (Ambrunés and Lapins) and in about 20 minutes they saw how they lost their harvest. Therefore, from UPA-UCE have asked administrations to make an “urgent assessment” of the damage in order to declare a catastrophic area and measures can be arbitrated to help alleviate the serious situation in which they remain the most of 200 affected cereceros.
The water reserve
The water reserve is 54.8 percent of its total capacity, with 30,745 cubic hectometres (hm³), 846 (hm³), 1.5 percent less than the levels of the previous week. The situation is well below the levels of a year ago on the same dates, when the reservoirs stored 38,935 hm³ and the average of the last ten years with 38,310 hm³, according to data provided on Tuesday by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition (Miteco)
In addition, five basins -Tajo, Guadiana, Guadalquivir, Segura and Júcar- are below 50 percent of their capacity. During the past week the precipitations have been “abundant in the Mediterranean slope and considerable in the Atlantic”; the maximum of the whole country has been collected in Burgos with 37 liters per square meter.
