“The disruption could be more prolonged if the damage to infrastructure is severe and repair times are lengthy. Given the compounding effect of the drought followed by heavy rains, the impact may be felt in the longer term beyond the immediate post-flood period.
“The recent catastrophic floods in Spain are not only causing immediate devastation but also pose a serious threat to food security across Europe and could lead to supply shortages in the UK in the coming months, most likely affecting products like tomatoes.
“This event underscores the urgent need for increased resilience in our food systems in the face of increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather linked to climate change.”
Authorities in Spain were clearing flooded farms, destroyed homes and search teams scoured fields to find missing people.
“Even though it is early to say with any certainty the damage that the flooding will have, it is true that there is a large number of hectares affected,” Mr Bayo told i.
“In the areas affected by the flooding [the damage] is very high. But many other areas were unaffected.”
Mr Bayo, whose farm produces oranges which are exported to the European Union and the UK, said his own farm had been hit by the downpour.
“The intensive rain has flooded many areas of my farm but I have been pretty lucky compared to others,” he said.
However, Javier Díaz Jimenez, an economist from IESE Business School in Madrid, said the floods should be seen in the context of the importance of agriculture which accounts for 2.6 per cent of Spanish GDP.
“Of course, this was a tragedy and people died from drowning which is a horrible way to die,” he told i.
Dr Díaz said though he had sympathy for the victims of the flooding, the damage to the agricultural sector would not be significant in terms of the economy.
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Publish date : 2024-11-01 15:27:00
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