Whilst Almuñécar townsfolk marvelled at the size of the hailstones that fell during the Thursday downpour, up the valley farmers despaired.

A total of 500 hectares of tropical fruit between Torrecuevas and Almuñécar were bombarded, with much of the fruit smashed from the branches, in the space of only 20 minutes – a year’s crop and toil wiped out.

“Not even the oldest farmers remember such an aggressive and damaging hailstone downpour in such a short space of time,” explained the Chairman of the Denominación de la Costa Tropical, Antonio Sánchez, adding, that the leaves and fruit had been beaten from the branches.

He calculates that 20% of the crop in the district has gone down the drain. One fruit farmer, Joaquín Montes, claims that he has lost 150,000 kilos of chirimoyas: “All the profits for farm labourers have been trashed,” he lamented.

And of course, it’s not only the farmers who lose out, but the whole production chain, including the fruit-clearing houses and transport companies.

And the end-of-summer storms season is far from finished.

(News: Valle Rio Verde, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)