Estela Silva / Lusa
Renovation work on a roof of a house in Figueiró dos Vinhos (illustrative image)
A 72-year-old man died on Wednesday, following the collapse of a roof that he was repairing, in the town of Palhais, in the municipality of Sertã. Government once again extends the calamity situation until February 15th.
With the death of a man who died, while fixing the roof, in the municipality of Sertã, district of Castelo Branco, rise to 12 people who have died in Portugal since last week following the passage of depressions Kristin and Leonardowhich also caused many hundreds of injuries and displacement.
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, the fall of trees and structures, the closure of roads, schools and transport services, and the cut of energy, water and communications are the main material consequences of the storm.
The regions Centre, Lisbon and Tagus Valley and Alentejo are the most affected.
Calamity situation until February 15th
The calamity situation will once again be prolonged in mainland Portugal, extending for another seven days, from Sunday until February 15due to the continuation of bad weather, announced the Prime Minister.
“We know that we will still have a difficult situation that will prolong the conditions that justified this calamity”said Luís Montenegro, in a statement at the official residence in São Bento, in Lisbon, after the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers and after meeting with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in Lisbon.
In addition to prolonging the calamity situation, the Government decided to declare a contingency “in areas with greater risk in terms of flooding”which is the intermediate level in the Basic Civil Protection Law, lower than calamity and higher than alert.
Due to the bad weather, the Government began by declaring a calamity situation in mainland Portugal between January 28th and February 1st for around 60 municipalities, then extending it until February 8th for 68 municipalities, now extending it again until February 15th.
“Revolutionary” measures
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousaannounced, late Thursday night, that has already enacted the new government measures announced by the Prime Minister to respond to the effects of the storms, which he considered “a bit of a revolution in the way public administration works”.
“They are, as was said, a bit of a revolution in the way public administration operates and, therefore, they are not peaceful“, commented Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking to journalists, next to the Basílica da Estrela, in Lisbon, noting that the The objective is to “accelerate the performance” of public authorities.
The head of state reported that, in his meeting with the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, he had already received “the diplomas corresponding to these measures that he announced today” – including a exceptional and experimental regime to accelerate the urgent repair and reconstruction of houses, without prior administrative control.
“I already signed them, I just signed them, so they are all promulgated”, he announced.
The President of the Republic defended that “now the fundamental thing is truly accelerate the satisfaction of the needs of the Portuguese“.
“E, sand the money arrives on Monday to the Portuguese people and companies, and if it is possible to put all these mechanisms in place, well, then the most important thing is for us to speed up thisbecause people, as I said, are naturally very anxious, they are distressed and they want to see visible results after what they have been experiencing or are experiencing”, he added.
