„We are collecting data and will propose to include this issue. The Government is also collecting data and assessing the situation, but in our sector, we see that it is definitely necessary (to declare a state of emergency – BNS),” the minister told BNS on Tuesday.
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According to K. Mažeika, declaring a state of emergency would allow farmers not to comply with certain obligations and avoid fines.
He said that farms suffered losses both due to rain that flooded the cereals and due to power outages that affected both grain drying and dairy farms.
„In Žemaitija, where there was especially a lot of rain, the cereals are already underwater. So practically there is a high chance that they will not be able to be harvested. (…) In Kalvarija, there will be no electricity until the weekend. And there, dairy farms are buying, creating, and looking for generators. (…) Late yesterday evening I received information that a farm had harvested hundreds of tons of cereals just before the rain, there is high moisture and no electricity – they cannot dry them, nor unload or transfer them. This is very bad for the grain; it can simply rot in the barns,” the minister said.
According to him, losses due to the storm could be „quite large,” but it is difficult to accurately assess the extent of the damage as reports are increasing.
Meanwhile, the head of NKVC, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, told BNS that the issue of declaring a state of emergency will be considered, but first, information is needed about the exceptionally heavy rainfall in some parts of Lithuania.
„We will consider this issue, and the proposal comes from the ministry, but we will also need to receive all information from our Hydrometeorological Service, because here we are not talking about wind or storm, but about water levels, as a large amount of precipitation has fallen and there are certain thresholds, reaching which would mean that a state of emergency can be declared, either at the district level or at the state level,” V. Vitkauskas told BNS.
„For there to be an official announcement about the exact amount of precipitation in a particular municipality and after measuring that amount, then a decision can be made,” he added.
According to V. Vitkauskas, the center will consider the issue of declaring a state of emergency on Tuesday or Wednesday.
„Today, tomorrow (we will consider it – BNS). This is not a very urgent issue, as it mostly concerns compensation (to farmers – BNS), about freezing certain payments to the National Paying Agency,” explained the head of NKVC.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Lithuanian Farmers’ Union, Gedas Špakauskas, says that last Saturday’s disaster affected the country’s regions differently; for example, very heavy rainfall fell in Western and Northern Lithuania, while in the central and eastern parts of the country many farms suffered due to power outages.
„Some are very affected by electricity, and others are very affected by precipitation. Most precipitation fell in Kelmė, Klaipėda, Mažeikiai; that region, the other side definitely received the largest amount of precipitation, and there they mostly flood. And, for example, the other side – Anykščiai, Panevėžys, Kazlų Rūda – are most affected by electricity (outages – BNS), because those are the most forested areas and the electricity has not yet been restored,” G. Špakauskas told BNS.
„It is still hard to say what the losses will be, but it is very divided into two parts – some are flooding, others have no electricity,” he added.
„I spoke today with the Klaipėda side, since they also flooded last autumn and could not sow winter crops, so they sowed many summer crops. And the summer crops were not yet ripe to be harvested. Now everything is standing in water. They said it rained all day again yesterday, it is unclear how many more days it will rain, when it will be possible to go to the fields, but those losses are definitely counted not in millions, but in tens of millions,” explained the chairman of the Farmers’ Union.
According to him, besides crop losses, livestock breeders will also suffer losses due to „dead, unattended, or unmilked” cattle or poultry.
As BNS wrote, due to the storm that raged in Lithuania on Saturday, more than 93 thousand consumers still did not have electricity on Tuesday morning.
Due to the consequences of the storm, the Anykščiai district municipality declared a state of emergency on Monday. According to the municipality, many residents of the district face major disruptions – power outages, lack of mobile communication, and water supply disruptions.
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Kazlų Rūda also declared a state of emergency on Monday due to the consequences of the storm.
