Ebre Delta recovery from Storm Gloria on hold due to health crisis

Work to repair damage caused in January by Storm Gloria to Catalonia's southern wetland area of Ebre Delta has been on hold since mid-March due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Ebre Delta on Catalonia's south coast was one of the areas in the country hit hardest by the storm, which washed away entire beaches and flooded the local rice fields. 

The work to restore the wetland zone, which has a delicate natural ecosystem, came to a halt when the state authorities decreed a state of alarm due to the coronavirus.

Since then, no work has been carried out to repair the storm damage, although Spain's sources say that the authorities hope the work can be resumed by the end of April.

Before the work was halted, one dike had been completed using some 50,000 cubic meters of sand that were recovered from the flooded rice fields in the area.

Two to three meters high and three to four meters wide, the sources say the dike protected a five-kilometer stretch of coastline from further flooding during recent spring storms.

Work set to resume after April 20

The coastal authority overseeing the work is hoping the emergency repairs, which are expected to take two months to complete, can be resumed sometime after April 20.

"The health emergency has created problems that we never imagined, but the Delta also has a territorial emergency that cannot wait," said the mayor of Deltebre, Lluís Soler.

Five companies have been charged with carrying out the emergency repair work, which comes with a budget of some 3.5 million euros.