Luís Branca / Lusa
Largo de São Francisco, in Faro, after flooding caused by intense rain during the morning
The intense rain that fell in the Algarve this Wednesday morning led the IPMA to raise its warning from yellow to red – the most serious of the three levels.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, the Algarve sub-regional command of Civil Protection said that the rain that fell early in the morning had already caused all available means to be sent “to many of the places where flooding has occurred, especially in Faro and Vila Real de Santo António”.
The Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) issued this red warning, in force between 07:43 and 10:00, due to “persistent and heavy precipitation in Sotavento [de Faro até Espanha]sometimes accompanied by thunderstorms and gusts [de vento] fortes”.
Then, until 3pm, the level of care changes to orange, then to yellow, with an indication of “wind from the southern quadrant, with gusts of around 70/80 km/h, especially on the coast and in the mountains”.
Due to the forecast of rain, sometimes heavy and accompanied by thunderstorms, the IPMA also placed under orange warning until 3pm today the districts of Évora, Setúbal and Beja.
The districts of Santarém and Lisbon will be under yellow warning until noone Castelo Branco and Portalegre are also under yellow warning until 3pm.
The red warning is issued by IPMA in cases of extreme risk meteorological situations.
The orange warning indicates a moderate to high risk situation and the yellow warning indicates a risk for certain activities depending on the weather situation.
More than 1000 occurrences in Portugal
More than 1000 incidents related to bad weather were recorded in mainland Portugal between 12pm on Tuesday and 8am on Wednesday.
“1,005 incidents were recorded, of which 211 in the city of Lisbon and 764 in the other districts due to heavy rain”, he said Elisio Pereirafrom the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC).
According to Elísio Pereira, the majority of incidents were flooding on public roads (679) and falling trees (18).
According to Elísio Pereira, during the night there were no reports of victims.
On Tuesday, a woman was seriously injured following the floods recorded in the parish of Barcarena, one of the areas of the municipality of Oeiras most susceptible to bad weather.
