Lithuania’s government declared a nationwide “extreme situation” Wednesday following a severe weekend storm that caused extensive damage to crops, livestock and agricultural infrastructure.
The declaration is intended to help farmers and other agricultural businesses affected by the storm meet their obligations and allow the government to seek assistance from the European Commission and use state reserve funds to compensate for or reduce losses, Agriculture Minister Kęstutis Mažeika said.
“The main goal is to provide real assistance to agricultural entities that, because of these exceptional circumstances, are unable to meet their obligations, as well as to enable an appeal to the European Commission and make use of state reserve funds to compensate for or reduce losses,” Mažeika said at a government meeting.
Preliminary assessments indicate that western Lithuania suffered the most significant crop damage, with between 30% and 60% of crops affected in some areas.
About 56,000 hectares or more of crops may have been damaged, Mazeika said.
Among the reported losses, bean growers could face damage of about 150,000 euros. A poultry farm also reported the deaths of 30,000 broiler chickens after the power outage, resulting in losses of about 400,000 euros, the minister said.
Damage was not limited to crops. Preliminary data from Panevėžys district indicate that at least 100 hectares of orchards were damaged, with trees knocked down by the storm.
Power outages also affected livestock and poultry farms, disrupting water supplies, ventilation systems and the storage and refrigeration of animal feed and other agricultural products.
Mushroom growers have also reported losses after power outages destroyed entire harvests, Mažeika said.
Assessing the full extent of the damage has been complicated by disruptions to communications and internet services, he said.
“Because of communications and internet disruptions, it is difficult to collect information on the scale of the losses immediately,” Mažeika said. “As each station is brought back online, we receive additional information from the regions where different types of damage occurred.”
Four municipalities have already declared local emergencies, žeika said, but storm-related damage has also been recorded in other districts.
The government’s declaration of nationwide extreme situation comes as authorities continue efforts to restore electricity and assess the broader impact of the storm, which left hundreds of thousands of customers without power across Lithuania over the weekend.
Source - https://www.lrt.lt
