Tartous, Nov.1 (SANA) A waterspout struck the villages of Samkeh and al-Hawra in Tartous countryside, severely damaging several greenhouses, including crops, steel frames and plastic coverings. Farmers reported heavy financial losses and called for compensation and assistance to help them recover and resume farming.
Raneem Qanbar, an agricultural engineer who heads the Deir Habbash Agricultural Extension Unit in rural Safita, told SANA on Saturday that the unit visited the affected sites immediately after the waterspout struck to conduct an initial assessment, document the damage and prepare a report.
She explained that the report would be submitted to the Tartous Agriculture Department, which would forward it to the Disaster Impact Mitigation Fund to review farmers’ applications and determine eligibility for compensation under the approved criteria and rates.
Farmer Faisal al-Hassan from al-Hawra said the damage affected four greenhouse tunnels planted with cucumbers, as well as other greenhouses belonging to him and several neighbors. Strong winds tore away plastic coverings and uprooted support posts, damaging crops and steel frames.
He said the area had never experienced damage on this scale and called for farmers to receive compensation covering part of their losses.
Khalil Najmeh, another farmer from al-Hawra, said his greenhouses were almost completely destroyed, including their crops, steel frames and plastic coverings. He said he now had to rebuild his livelihood from scratch while supporting his family, stressing his need for assistance to resume farming.
Greenhouses are an important source of agricultural production and income in rural Tartous. Waterspouts threaten these structures by tearing away plastic coverings, uprooting steel frames and destroying crops, increasing farmers’ financial burdens and their need for support to restart production.
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