Portugal’s Civil Protection is considering evacuating almost 9,000 people in Coimbra, after two days ago a dam on the Mondego River overflowed and caused the A1 highway, which connects Lisbon and Porto, to break. As things stand, these new evacuations would be added to the 3,600 people who were already evacuated before the river overflowed.
The Operations officer of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), Rui Oliveira, has assured that the alert remains and that there are “some disturbances” that affect important towns “on the outskirts of Coimbra.” “Given the forecast of sustained floods, we remain on alert and are considering the evacuation of 9,000 people,” he said in statements to EFE.
In principle, the forecasts indicate that for this Friday the situation will be “calmer”, because it has not rained as much as expected. However, “the flows will remain quite high” and that is why he did not want to launch any expectations for the weekend.
It will take “weeks” to repair the highway
Fortunately, the river has overflowed its right bank, which is full of agricultural fields, so the impact on the population has not been so serious and is not having “significant effects.”
On the other hand, the Aguieira reservoir is at 99.1% of its capacity and therefore the Mondego River basin is going through a “worrying” situation. So much so that a dam broke near the Casais area and the A1 highway, the most important in the country, collapsed at kilometer 191.2 in the north-south direction, causing a huge sinkhole that forced it to be closed to traffic in both directions.
Thus, the Portuguese Minister of Infrastructure, Miguel Pinto Luz, has lamented that it will take “weeks” to repair the infrastructure, so the highway will remain closed for a time between kilometers 189 and 191. For his part, the President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, have visited Coimbra to evaluate the situation, because new breaks are not ruled out.
16 people have died due to the storm since January 28
Since last January 28, 16 people have died in Portugal after the passage of storms Kristin, Leonardo and Marta. The latest victim was a 72-year-old man who suffered an accident while repairing the roof of a relative’s house. The authorities have asked for caution. “On these two days alone, rainfall is equivalent to 20 percent of Portugal’s annual average,” said the Minister of the Environment, María da Graça.
It is worth remembering that the Minister of the Interior, María Lúcia Amaral, presented her resignation on Tuesday after criticism of her management, which has reached its peak with the damage caused by the storm. For this reason, Montenegro has assumed its functions on a temporary basis until a new minister is appointed.
