The Lasithi Plateau is facing major agricultural losses after more than 420 millimeters of rain were recorded in Tzermiado during the latest storm, according to local rainfall measurements cited by producer Manolis Grammatikakis.

Fields across the plateau remain flooded, with potatoes and other vegetables still in the ground and large areas covered by water and mud.

Grammatikakis, 79, has been recording rainfall from his own gauge in Tzermiado for around 50 years. He told Nea Kriti that he had never recorded such a volume of rain in a three-day period.

Thousands of hectares affected

According to Grammatikakis, around 18,000 of the plateau’s 25,000 cultivated stremmata were planted with vegetables this season, including potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, onions and beans.

Much of the produce had not yet been harvested when the latest rainfall arrived.

He said water remains 30 to 50 centimeters deep in some fields and that saturated soil is preventing effective drainage.

The producer estimates that more than 3,000 tonnes of potatoes alone could be lost if the water remains in the fields and the crops begin to rot.

Those figures are preliminary estimates from the local agricultural community. A full assessment of the damage is not yet complete.

A late season made the problem worse

The storm’s timing has added to the pressure on growers.

According to Grammatikakis, unusually late rainfall last April left the fields wet and delayed the planting of summer vegetables by around a month. Planting began after June, pushing the harvest further into the autumn.

In previous years, he said, producers had generally completed the potato harvest by the end of September.

This year, crops were still in the fields when the heavy rainfall arrived at the beginning of October.

Farmers waiting for damage assessments

Producers on the plateau are now looking toward the next stage: documenting individual losses and determining what assistance may be available.

Grammatikakis said farmers are insured through ELGA, Greece’s agricultural insurance organization, and hope ELGA agronomists will begin inspections once weather conditions improve.

Those inspections will be needed before individual claims and damage assessments can proceed.

The financial pressure is particularly significant for growers who have already paid for fertilizer, crop-protection products and other agricultural supplies but have not yet harvested enough produce to recover those costs.

If the reported losses are confirmed, the impact will extend beyond individual farms and into the island’s agricultural supply chain.

For now, however, the full scale of the damage remains to be established. Water is still standing in fields, the weather has only recently begun to ease, and official inspections have yet to provide a complete picture.

AI Rewriter

I found words and phrases that AI uses frequently. Check the highlighted sections for rewritten versions.

AI phrases reviewed

0/ 6

Phrases more frequent in AI text

All AI phrases

6

Almost always AIOver 50× frequency

2

Usually AI10-49× frequency

4

Sometimes AILess than 10× frequency

0

Try our AI detection

AI Detector

Spot text that resembles AI writing.