RECENT storm chaos has caused at least €4 billion of damage in Andalucia and it’s not over yet.
Since the new year the southern region has experienced triple the normal rainfall, provoking 10,000 emergencies and forcing 11,000 people to be evacuated.
Since Sunday 2,000 of these individuals have been allowed to return home but 9,000 remain displaced and that is only the start of the damage storms have posed.
The bill for fixing road issues is expected to surpass €500 million with storms having harmed a total of 216 roads. Of these 119 are flooded, 53 are covered in dirt due to landslides and 31 have uneven terrain.
Beyond this, initial estimations suggest that €3.4 billion of damage to agriculture has occurred with the full extent of consequences to the countryside still being unknown as water levels have not all lowered.
Damage to Spanish agriculture will have a direct correlation with the economy, in 2024 the sector reached a value of €17 billion.
To assist with the hefty repair bills, the Andaluz government, run by Juanma Moreno, has turned to Pedro Sanchez and the EU for help.
These funds will lead the Junta to make a ‘thorough review’ of its budget that will allow it to determine where money can be allocated.
“We are going to dedicate ourselves to recovering all that the storms have done and reactivating our economy to as it was before,” says Ramon Fernandez-Pacheco, the Junta’s Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.
The Junta plans to use a significant proportion of the funds received to assist affected families, an idea echoed by Vice-President of the central government, Maria Jesus Montero.
She states that municipalities ‘will prioritise’ measures so that families ‘can recover as quickly as possible and damaged infrastructure, which is so important for everyday life, can be restored in the shortest possible time.
Adding to this, Jesus Montero stated that they anticipate support will start to be provided to affected municipalities before waiting for the allocation from the Fondo de Solidaridad de Europa.
As weather forecasts predict more rain in the coming days, locals are bracing themselves for further damage as repair costs continue to rise.
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