JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Now to Spain, where it's been raining almost nonstop in the south. That is good news for farmers, but as Miguel Macias reports, in the cities, the reaction is mixed.
MIGUEL MACIAS, BYLINE: If you ever visited the south of Spain, you might have seen locals hanging their clothes to dry in the sun. It's a common sight in cities like Seville, where it's safe to say that it doesn't rain very much. That is until this winter.
JUDITH CASTRO: (Speaking Spanish).
MACIAS: Judith Castro manages a laundromat in the working-class neighborhood of Seville.
CASTRO: (Through interpreter) Neighbors are only recently getting to know us. It's usually hot in the south of Spain, so laundromats are really a new thing for civilians.
MACIAS: Locals in Seville traditionally don't use dryers. You can't find them in houses and apartments. People just hang their laundry outside in the sun. When it rains, well, you simply don't do your laundry. But what happens if it doesn't stop raining?
CASTRO: (Through interpreter) Spaniards in the south are not used to so much rain, so people are just desperate to dry their laundry.
MACIAS: Laundromats have been opening up in cities like Seville, mostly catering to tourists who don't have the time to be hanging their laundry, not to mention a clothesline. But recently, Castro has seen a line of people at her laundromat waiting to use her dryers. There is an economic angle to all of this. The price of energy in Spain has hit record highs in recent years. Dryers consume a lot of energy, and you certainly cannot beat the price of drying your laundry in the sun. But it's also a tradition. Another civilian tradition is spending time outdoors.
PACO GARNES: (Speaking Spanish).
MACIAS: Paco Garnes is the owner of El Tremendo, a traditional tapas bar just around the corner from Castro's laundromat. For him, the impact of the recent rain in Seville has been disastrous. He says what people like to do in Seville is...
GARNES: (Through interpreter) Going out for tapas and cold beer outdoors - but with the recent rain, I've seen an 85% decrease in my revenue.
MACIAS: Other important sectors of the Andalusian economy have been hurt by the rain, such as construction. On the other hand, water reservoirs are at historic highs. That's a huge relief for a region that had been hit by a yearslong drought and has a lot of water-hungry farms. But whether it's good or bad for your business, at the end of the day, no one gets to decide when it rains.
Miguel Macias, NPR News, Seville, Spain.
(SOUNDBITE OF RADIOHEAD SONG, "LET DOWN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
