€11m to help farmers and fishermen affected by Storm Gloria

The Catalan executive has approved its first aid package to deal with the effects of Storm Gloria, with an initial 11 million euros going to help farmers and fishermen in a number of places across Catalonia in the form of aid and soft loans. 

The funds will go to those places hardest hit by the heavy winds and torrential rains, principally the Ebre Delta wetland area in the south, the Baix Ter area in the northern region of Girona, and farmland around Tordera in the Maresme region, north of Barcelona.

In the Ebre Delta, the effects of the storm damaged 3,300 hectares of rice fields as well as 35 mussel farms, while the overflowing of the Ter river flooded 12,000 hectares of farmland in Baix Ter, with flood waters from the Tordera river damaging 326 hectares in Maresme. 

Meanwhile, the storm also damaged 78 hectares of farmland in the Agricultural Park of Baix Llobregat, south of the Catalan capital, with the damage assessed so far totaling some 16,000 hectares.

The government is continuing to evaluate all the damage caused by the storm and is looking into what action needs to be taken to return the places affected to normal, while also securing them against any future storms.