Expatica news

Flooding leaves villages submerged, causes chaos

25 May 2007

MADRID – The government gave €300m emergency aid to Castilla La Mancha after flooding leaves villages submerged and crops destroyed.

Rail services between Madrid and much of eastern Spain remained disrupted due to persistent heavy rainfall in recent days.

A spokesman for the Renfe national railway network said that the intense rains this week had forced authorities to cut off service between Madrid and the provinces of Albacete, Valencia, Alicante and Murcia.

The flooding resulting from the downpours also has made it impossible since Tuesday night to recover train service in the central provinces of Ciudad Real and Toledo, where the railway network remained flooded.

Meanwhile, the Asaja agrarian association estimated Thursday that the torrential rain and hail storms of recent days – mainly affecting the central Castile-La Mancha region – have damaged more than 200,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of cropland.

According to Asaja, financial losses could total as much as 160 million euros (more than $200 million).

Asaja representatives noted that those figures were still provisional since the rains had not yet stopped, but stressed that the regions farmers are facing a natural catastrophe of unprecedented scope. EFE

[Copyright EFE with Expatica]

Subject: Spanish news