Tornadoes devastate 300–400 hectares of soft fruit greenhouses in Huelva

Storm Laurence has hit the coast of Huelva, where in addition to heavy rain, two tornadoes, one in the municipalities of Lepe and Cartaya, and the other in Lucena del Puerto, Moguer, and part of Palos de la Frontera, have damaged between 300 and 400 hectares of soft fruit greenhouses on different farms.

"The tornadoes have destroyed the macro-tunnels, tearing up the plastic, pushing the structures over the plants, and twisting the ironwork of the greenhouses," says Freshuelva.

"This has caused two types of damage: to the infrastructures, which will have to be rebuilt and covered with new plastic sheeting before another squall arrives on Thursday that will bring more rain, and to the plants, as a great amount of water has entered the affected strawberry plantations. In the blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry plantations, the fallen infrastructures have broken bushes and plants that were currently in production," they say.

"For our part, we have already contacted Agroseguro so that experts can assess the extent of the damage as soon as possible," says Rafael Domínguez Guillén.

Four tornadoes have already been reported in Huelva in recent months. The last one, in fact, was spotted just over a month ago also in Moguer. "As far as I know, it's not normal for such an amount of tornadoes or sea sleeves to occur. The flow rate of the Tinto and Odiel rivers yesterday was also far from normal. We have gone from having restrictions of up to 50% in strawberry irrigation to having reservoirs at above 100% of their capacity, as well as overflows and yellow warnings due to rising river levels."

"We can't forget that we have been waiting 25 years for the construction of the Alcolea reservoir, which would have alleviated these floods and overflows of recent days, and would also have served to store all this water that has now ended up in the sea, especially in a province where there is a lack of dams and which suffers periods of water shortages.

"The Alcolea dam would not only have a positive impact on agriculture but would also facilitate the water supply to the population and to the industry. It is raining more and more in less time, and having this reservoir would help us collect all that valuable water and avoid all the problems caused by floods, from material damage in the municipalities to destroyed roads or damage to the roads."

Huelva's strawberries affected by constant rain
These two tornadoes have brought yet another concern to Huelva's strawberry sector, which will be facing further rain in the next few days. "Next week will once again be a bad one for us. It's raining too much and this could lead to the appearance of diseases and problems with the harvest. We'll need more thorough quality checks to ensure that strawberries reach the consumer in good condition and this means higher costs; furthermore, all the strawberries that can't be exported or that will need to go to the processing industry will generate a loss for the growers."

"March is a very important month for Huelva's strawberries, as that's when they have their place in the market, so these losses have happened at a fundamental part of the season," he says. "Now we can only hope that these will be the last rains, and that we'll have some respite at the beginning of spring so that we can have a little more peace of mind than we've had so far this season, and that we'll be able to export and market without any issues so that growers in the province can obtain the highest possible profitability."

For more information:
Freshuelva
https://freshuelva.es/