French growers have been largely untouched by the devastating floods that Atlantic storm Xynthia brought to the Atlantic coast over the weekend.

The main areas affected were the Charente-Maritime and Vendeé in western France. High winds caused waves to breach the sea wall and land close to the coast has been flooded. However, these areas are not major growers of vegetables or fruit.

A spokesperson at French apple exporter Blue Whale told freshinfo: “Inland there is no damage to orchards. The motorway has not been affected and traffic is flowing as usual on the main roads, apart from those right on the coast. There is therefore no problem for supplies to the UK.”

To the north-west in Brittany, a spokeswoman for marketing group Prince de Bretagne said the region’s growers had been unaffected by the weekend storms, although there has been some loss of power in southern parts of the region.

But Bruno Scherrer, director of the French national federation of vegetable producers, FNPL, said more time might be needed for more accurate assessments for the few growers in Charente-Maritime and Vendée: “We don’t yet know the full effects from the weekend, and there have been reports of some protective structures being damaged, but I don’t think there are great consequences for French vegetable production.”

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