Heavy rainfall has been recorded in the north of the Spanish province of Castellón, causing some flooding in the municipalities of Benicarló and Vinaroz. Some roads have been closed off and schools have been closed in almost 20 municipalities. Regarding the impact on the agricultural sector, it is still too early to make assessments, but some talk about the possibility of direct damage to vegetables and citrus fruits, both in the medium and long term.
"We've been having some torrential rain and strong winds since yesterday. We are talking about short periods of time, but with very heavy rainfall," says Guillermo Edo, Director of the Benihort cooperative in Benicarló.
"The most affected crops are vegetables, especially artichokes, and citrus fruits, mainly varieties such as the Clemenules. In fact, between 15 and 20% of the latter's production could have been lost, both due to the direct impact of the storm and the effects of the excess humidity in the medium and long term," says Edo.
"For the last two weeks, we have had to constantly interrupt the harvest, so the season has been delayed by around 10 days. We are currently at a standstill again, but fortunately, we were able to harvest at the weekend and we have enough fruit to continue supplying our clients until the beginning of next week," he says.
The director of Benihort says that "now is the time for planting vegetables for the spring harvests and we haven't been able to carry out these tasks for some days now. This means that there will be a lack of production from the end of February and the beginning of March."
According to the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (Aemet), this Wednesday has been the day with the worst rainfall due to the most recent storms. It is raining in a large part of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, especially in the Mediterranean area. The provinces of Malaga and Tarragona have been the most threatened and a red alert was declared there. The same applies to Valencia, where about 200 liters per square meter are expected just two weeks after the worst natural disaster in the area and at national level.