Both towns have formally requested a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food of the Government of Aragon
Both city councils have issued a joint statement to the media, to announce the actions that the two municipalities in Zaragoza will carry out.
Roberto Cabistany and Antonio Sanjuán, mayors of Fayón and Mequinenza, held a meeting in Mequinenza, in which Sebastián Solé and Javier Recha, president and vice president of the Fayón Irrigation Community, and Jesús Llop, secretary of the APAC Irrigation Community of Mequinenza, also took part, to launch joint actions to request aid for the damage caused by the storm that occurred in the early hours of July 1.
The supercell affected an area of over 5.000 hectares across both towns, mostly within the municipality of Mequinenza, causing damage to crops, farms, and infrastructure. Estimates indicate that 800 hectares (200 in Fayón and 600 in Mequinenza) have been devastated, and another 1.500 hectares (500 in Fayón and 1.000 in Mequinenza) have been severely affected, jeopardizing the future of the farms.
Given the extraordinary nature of the situation, it has been agreed to request a meeting with Javier Rincón, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, and Food of the Government of Aragon, to implement support mechanisms to prevent the abandonment of the farms most affected by this event. The regional government has previously implemented similar measures in response to comparable situations that have caused even less extensive damage than that caused by the hailstorm, which was accompanied by strong gusts of wind exceeding 120 kilometers per hour.
Among the proposals to the Aragonese government, in addition to supporting the declaration of a disaster zone already requested by the Mequinenza City Council from the central government, are requests for the technicians of the Department of Agriculture, Livestock and Food of the Government of Aragon to carry out a detailed technical and economic assessment of the damage caused by the storm, to launch lines of aid for varietal conversion or a plan for uprooting and replanting the most affected crops, which make their survival completely unviable despite the recommendations of Agroseguro after the assessments and which would only aggravate the consequences of the damage to the farms, leading them to ruin.
They believe that, given this extraordinary situation, all public administrations, including the central and regional governments as well as the Provincial Council of Zaragoza, must provide a coordinated response commensurate with its severity. This represents a severe blow to the primary sector in both towns, with serious economic repercussions due to lost production in the current and subsequent seasons, and social repercussions due to job losses. They are also proposing soft loans, tax exemptions, subsidies, and aid programs for crop and infrastructure restoration, among other measures.
