Totting up damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Storm Gloria hit areas of Costa Almeria

DAMAGE: The violent hailstorm badly damaged greenhouses and citrus trees. CREDIT: Subdelegacion del Gobierno en Almeria

THE Government Sub-delegate in Almeria has been to take a first-hand look at the regions worst hit by last Storm Gloria and particularly last Wednesday’s violent hailstorm.
Manuel de la Fuente also met with the mayors of Nijar, Los Gallardos, Antas and Cuevas del Almanzora to evaluate the damage to agriculture and infrastructure caused by the extreme weather event.
The Sub-delegate started off in the Saladar y Leche district of Nijar, where accompanied by the Mayor Esperanza Perez he went to see the greenhouse which was completely flattened by the weight of the hailstones, killing a 77-year old man.
The council’s initial estimates put the agricultural area affected by the storm at somewhere between 250 and 310 hectares, adding up to losses of some €90 million.
In Los Gallardos it was roads which were most affected, particularly a section of the N-340 going past the entrance to a mobile home complex in La Perulaca.
The emergency services had to go to the assistance of an 81-year old British driver whose vehicle had become trapped in a large pool of water on a dip in the road as a result of the downpour.
Rural roads were also the main storm-related issue in Cuevas del Almanzora, the Mayor Antonio Fernandez reported, along with flooding in the convent after part of the roof came down.
Antas Mayor Pedro Ridao told De la Fuente that the worst consequence of Gloria was the damage to the citrus cultivations. The local authority has estimated around 100 hectares were hit by the hail.
Twenty hectares of greenhouses dedicated to lime cultivation and another 20 hectares used for growing vegetables were completely wiped out and the fruit of approximately 60 hectares of lime, orange and mandarin groves was seriously damaged.

CREDIT: Subdelegacion del Gobierno en Almeria

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Written by

Cathy Elelman

Cathy Elelman is the local writer for the Costa de Almeria edition of the Euro Weekly News.

Based in Mojacar for the last 21 years, Cathy is very much part of the local community and is always well and truly up on all the latest news and events going on in this region of Spain.

Her top goals are to do the best job she can informing the local English-speaking community, visitors to the area and the wider world about about the news in Almeria, to learn something new every day, and to embrace very new challenge this fast-changing world brings her way.

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