The damages caused by the flood of the Arga amount to at least 8 million euros

The damage caused by the “historic” flood of the Arga river in the Middle Zone of Navarra will exceed eight million euros, according to a first estimate of the Department of Rural Development and Environment.

This has been advanced by the Minister of Rural Development and Environment, Itziar Gómez, in her visit this morning to the towns of Peralta, Funes and Falces, severely affected by the floods.

“It is estimated that there are 12,000 hectares of area affected, It is still too early to be able to make an assessment of the damage to the crops, but as for the agricultural infrastructures we have a first provisional estimate of 8 million euros of losses “, he indicated.

The Department has enabled a section on the website of the Government of Navarra so that the agricultural sector can present, from today, notifications for damage to agricultural infrastructures of local entities, Irrigation communities and farms. The damage assessment will begin as soon as the ground conditions allow it as the waters recede. The Department estimates that it could be defined in approximately 15-20 days.

Once the full extent of the damage is known, it will be designed and approved with the utmost urgency calls for aid for agricultural infrastructures to alleviate the damage caused by the flood.

To these damages, it would be necessary to add up losses that occur in agricultural productions and that at the moment cannot be quantified. It should be remembered that, unlike previous episodes, these latest floods have come at a key moment for the autumn-winter vegetable harvesting campaign (broccoli, cauliflower, thistle, artichoke) and with a significant area of ​​unharvested corn.

Gómez has delved precisely on this point. “The problems in the agricultural sector are serious because we are facing historical floods due to the volume of water, but also due to the moment in which they have occurred, key in the autumn-winter vegetable campaign.”