Latest news with #StormLaurence
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Local farmers scramble to salvage crops after brutal tornado outbreak: 'Now we can only hope'
Severe weather, including two tornadoes, recently ripped through southern Spain, leaving destroyed berry crops and greenhouse wreckage in its wake. With no foreseeable end to similar climate extremes, farmers are scrambling to rebuild — and bracing for what's next. Storm Laurence swept through the Huelva region of Spain in mid-March, devastating an estimated 300 to 400 hectares — or about 740 to 990 acres — of soft fruit greenhouses across several towns. Huelva is one of Europe's top hubs for soft fruit production, particularly berries. These crops are typically grown in macro-tunnels and greenhouses, which are vulnerable to strong winds and storm damage. Freshuelva — a local growers' association — reports Storm Laurence's tornadoes ripped apart produce coverings, collapsed structures onto growing plants, and twisted greenhouse ironwork. Strawberry farms suffered significant water damage, while blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry bushes were destroyed while the berries were currently in production. Even before Storm Laurence's destruction, four tornadoes had already been reported in Huelva in recent months, an unusual frequency for the region. "As far as I know, it's not normal for such an amount of tornadoes or sea sleeves to occur," Freshuelva spokesperson Rafael Domínguez Guillén said in a press release. Adding to the destruction, Fruitnet reports that 20 days of non-stop rain in the region have delayed fruit ripening and rendered 15% to 20% of local crops unmarketable. And the damage isn't limited to berries — olives, citrus, cereals, and wine grapes have also been negatively affected by recent weather. Farmers are increasingly concerned about climate instability — not just in Spain but globally. Regions worldwide are experiencing more unpredictable and severe weather driven by environmental degradation and climate shifts. The consequences are far-reaching, including reduced crop yields, higher produce prices, and serious threats to farmers' livelihoods. In Huelva, for instance, Freshuelva noted that strawberries will now require additional quality checks before reaching consumers, increasing prices overall. That is in addition to likely price hikes from reduced availability, given that 15 to 20% of strawberry crops have been rendered unmarketable. And while these price hikes may make some money back for growers, it doesn't offset the cost of lost product — and the high cost of rebuilding infrastructure post-disaster. Storm Laurence isn't just an unusual weather event — it's a climate warning. Consider it a signal of how urgent and widespread environmental degradation truly is, on your grocery bill and beyond. Do you think America has a plastic waste problem? Definitely Only in some areas Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. A local growers' association is working with agricultural insurance companies to assess the damage from Storm Laurence. Farmers are already rebuilding structures to protect surviving crops, especially with more rain expected in the coming weeks. "It's raining too much, and this could lead to the appearance of diseases and problems with the harvest," Domínguez Guillén said, adding, "Now we can only hope that these will be the last rains … so that we can have a little more peace of mind than we've had so far this season." Freshuelva also highlighted that local growers have been "waiting 25 years for the construction of the Alcolea reservoir, which would have alleviated these floods and overflows." The association says the dam would also supply water to local communities often impacted by water shortages. Meanwhile, the global agricultural sector is working on making crops, including berries, more resilient to extreme weather and improving growing infrastructure, like greenhouses and macro-tunnels, to be more resilient to wind damage. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
The Independent
21-03-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Storm Martinho lashes Spain – bringing threat of fresh flooding
Heavy rains continue to batter Spain bring the risk of further flooding as storm Martinho brings strong winds, large swells and intense rainfall to large parts of the country. Dozens of roads remain closed and the Spanish government has urged residents to avoid travel according to local media reports due to forecast heavy rain and the water levels of the Manazares River in Madrid remaining high. The Spanish weather bureau, Aemet, said storm Martinho was heaping more rain onto areas on Friday and through the weekend that have already experienced plenty of rain in the last few weeks. 'Storm Martinho is dumping heavy rain where there has already been a lot of rainfall. It's also raining in areas with snow, causing it to melt,' the bureau said. 'The soils are saturated, and many rivers are experiencing very high flows in the central and southern parts of the Peninsula. Be careful of flooding.' Winds of up to 90km/h are expected on Friday for parts of Spain while other parts of the country are likely to get up to 60 millimetres of rain on top of three weeks of heavy storm activity. But relief is on the way, Aemet said. 'The rains will cease across much of the Peninsula during the week of March 24-30,' it said, adding rain will be limited to the north in the next week, which has not experienced the downpours the rest of the country has been hit with. For Friday all autonomous providence remain under a yellow weather warning, except for the Canary Islands, and those warnings persist in many areas across Saturday as well. Strong winds of 70km/h are forecast for Almería on Friday, with winds of 60km/h expected for the weekend. Parts of Ávila are forecast to experience rainfalls of up to 60 millimetres, while Salamanca is expected to get up to 40 millimetres through Friday. Footage on social media shows children being carried on the backs of rescuers through ankle-deep flood water in Ávila, with El Pais reporting firefighters rescued 41 children from a religious centre there on Friday morning. In Malaga emergency services are searching for a motorcyclist they believe was swept away in flooding on Wednesday, El Pais reports, after the man's motorbike was found buried under flood debris. Storm Martinho follows three weeks of consecutive extreme weather in Spain, and follows storms Jana, Konrad and Laurence. It comes after two people lost their lives in flooding caused by Storm Laurence earlier this week. Dozens of roads across Spain have been closed due to storm damage, with trains and flights also cancelled according to local news reports. Dramatic footage of Storm Laurence shows cars being swept away in flood waters in Murcia with roads turned into rivers as the region was hit by torrential rain on Tuesday.
The Independent
19-03-2025
- Climate
- The Independent
Storm Martinho: Warnings for rain, wind and travel chaos in Spain after deadly Storm Laurence floods
Two people have been killed in Spain's third named storm in a fortnight - with a fourth set to arrive on Thursday. Storm Martinho is expected to bring more strong winds and heavy rain to much of the country, with widespread warnings from the nation's forecaster Aemet. It comes after two people lost their lives in flooding caused by Storm Laurence earlier this week. Dozens of roads across Spain have been closed due to storm damage, with trains and flights also cancelled according to local news reports. And it is not just the mainland that is affected; the Canary Islands government has advised residents against unnecessary travel ahead of fierce winds forecast in the archipelago. The Canaries are under a yellow alert for powerful wind gusts of up to 43mph, less than a week after major flooding in Tenerife and Gran Canaria caused widespread damage. La Palma remains under a yellow alert for Thursday with gusty westerly winds. Storm Martinho will bring more bad weather to close out the week, following storms Jana, Konrad and Laurence. 'A day of instability is expected across the Iberian Peninsula due to the passage of a front associated with Storm Martinho,' the weather bureau said. Orange weather alerts have been issued for Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia primarily for strong winds across Thursday, with gusts of up to 68mph forecast for Asturias. In Galicia, on the west coast, winds of up to 54mph are forecast with strong gusts, and sea swells of up to seven metres. The bureau has also issued yellow weather warnings for large parts of the country for Thursday. Wind gusts of between 43mph and 55mph are expected particularly in the north west. In the south, Aemet forecasts Storm Martinho will bring heavy rainfalls from Thursday, with some regions in the south around Seville expected to get up to 40mm of rainfall in a day. Aemet said rain and thunderstorms will be 'locally heavy and persistent' in the west of Andalucía on Thursday and through to Friday. Dramatic footage of Storm Laurence shows cars being swept away in flood waters in Murcia with roads turned into rivers as the region was hit by torrential rain on Tuesday. Video from Telemadrid showed vehicles piling up in a river while murky water ran through the streets as bad weather continues to lash Spain, with Barcelona forecast to get up to 100mm of rain on Wednesday. In Águilas, nine people were rescued from vehicles according to local media reports after the storm hit the town on Tuesday morning. La Razón reported the coastal town got about 70 litres of rain per square metre in the space of an hour. The mayor of Águilas, María del Carmen Moreno called for calm, La Razón reported her saying, "Losing a car doesn't matter; losing a human life does', as emergency services responded to more than 70 incidents across the region. In Málaga, heavy rains and flooding forced hundreds of evacuations on Monday evening and dozens of rescues on Tuesday in particularly badly hit towns, El País reported, with rainfall of up to 100 litres per square metre recorded in parts of Andalusia. Separately, emergency services in Seville have found the bodies of a man and a woman whose vehicle had been swept away in flooding on Tuesday, El País reports. The body of a man was found underneath the vehicle on Wednesday morning, while the woman's body was found on Tuesday afternoon. The body of a 70-year-old cyclist was also found on a riverbank after he went missing on Monday in Añora, and El País reported investigators were working to determine whether he was also killed by the storm. A British family's overseas home in Alicante, near Murcia, was hit by a tornado last week, flinging debris across the property and causing extensive damage, the Daily Mail reported.
Local Spain
17-03-2025
- Climate
- Local Spain
Why won't it stop raining in Spain?
You've probably noticed that it's been raining pretty much non-stop in Spain over at least the last three weeks. Whether it be the recent Storm Jana, then Storm Konrad hitting much of Spain with rain, strong winds and snow last week, or now Storm Laurence bringing further wet weather to large parts of the country from Monday, it's been an unusually wet (and cold, in places) month so far. In fact, all the data suggests that this March will probably be the wettest on record, and judging by the sheer number of rainy days we've had so far this month, it seems almost certain this will be the case even if it's sunny for the rest of March. The southern region of Andalusia, for example, has now accumulated almost two consecutive weeks of stormy days. Locals in Córdoba have seen 16 consecutive days of non-stop rainfall, and in Madrid the first week of March the capital recorded almost the same amount of rain that it usually accumulates throughout the entire spring. According to data from Spain's state meteorological agency (Aemet), in just eight days Madrid's Retiro observatory collected 100 millimetres of accumulated rainfall, a figure that is close to the average rainfall between March and May in the capital. Ciudad Real has recorded rainfall for 14 consecutive days, the eleventh longest streak of rain since 1920. Aemet spokesman Rubén del Campo told the Spanish press that in just the first nine days of March, in Spain it rained "three times more than normal.' Why won't it stop raining in Spain? Without wanting to get overly meteorological, the rainy conditions are being caused by a high-pressure anticyclone system located in northern Europe, somewhere near the UK, which basically forces storm systems to descend in latitude and head southward towards Spain. 'These are storms that are circulating at lower latitudes than is common at this time of year,' del Campo explains. At high altitude, weather fronts feed the anticyclonic circulation, which causes large movements of warm air northward and cold air towards southwards. Aemet also notes that warmer ocean temperatures can cause rains to be heavier because the warm sea water provides energy, as long as the atmospheric conditions are right, which has likely worsened the wet spell. Fortunately, according to forecasting models, it seems the phenomena should disappear by the beginning of next week.
