Small disaster (10/03/10) On the 8th of March 2010 a severe unexpected snowstorm inflicted terrible damage in our county of Empordà. The tornado-like storm left a local footprint. Barcelona at a distance of 130km came off almost unscathed, the epicentre was within the triangle formed by the towns of Sant Feliú de Guixols, La Bisbal d’Empordà and l’Escala. Our olive grove is situated right in the middle. That day we had 40cm of snowfall, a sticky kind of snow piling up high at sub zero temperatures even on thin electricity wires. At the end of the afternoon sudden gusts of wind made these lumps of ice swing breaking everything brittle. In the 50 years we've known Catalonia we have never seen such havoc. Rickety rooves caved in, traffic was in a complete chaos, in the whole of our county there was no light, water, heating or telephone for 72 hours. But it was the trees that came to bear the most of the suffering. Particularly the evergreens such as pines, holms, cork trees, cypresses and of course olive trees that were more than decimated. On our property tens of solitary trees fell like matches, roots pulled and all. Our 1278 Arbequina olive trees kept themselves upright but left an estimated 2000 broken main branches, almost one third. What nature inflicted on this day will take years to repair. Compared to other storms this was a small disaster. It certainly keeps you humble. Hans en Daida de Roos
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