The incident reignites the debate about the need for the Girabolhos dam, canceled in 2016 and still without work despite two government announcements.
The A1 collapsed on Wednesday, a few hours after the and the strength of the water has open a hole measuring almost 10 meters.
Looking for the space that he hadn’t had in the bed for days, Mondego found an escape in the dike that had burst.
Over time, the current took the dike, took the irrigation canal, took the wall on the other side of the field road and part of the A1.
The dike burst shortly after 5:30 pm, but the A1 was still open for almost an hour.
Four hours later, the pavement collapsed and fell into a four-meter-high hole dug by the force of the water.
Early this Thursday morning, almost 10 meters of tar had disappeared in the north-south direction and the earth began to disappear under the pavement in the opposite direction.
The viaduct pillar remained intact, but the wall supporting the A1, which was not designed to come into contact with the river water, gave way.
LNEC inspected dike
SIC knows that, , was called to inspect the dike under the A1, not the one that gave way, but the one on the opposite bank because there was water coming out through the expansion joints. He recommended placing sandbags there.
LNEC was not called to evaluate the dike on the bank, which broke because, says the Portuguese Environment Agency to SIC, “the dike on the right bank never showed resurgences, nor did it show any pathologies prior to the rupture.”
The barrier ended up bursting, but APA assures that all dikes, including the one that suffered the rupture, were monitored exhaustively since the storms began.
New dam on the way?
With the Aguieira dam full, a lot of water should still continue to flood the Mondego fields. A second dam could help check the river.
It was predicted. It would be in Girabolhos, municipality of Seia.
It was awarded to Endesa, but canceled in 2016in the first Government of António Costa under pressure from BE, PCP and Greens, who supported the government.
The relaunch of the project was one of the battles of the former president of the Chamber of Coimbra.
Last year, the Government announced that it would relaunch the work. This year, with the Mondego already at risk, a new announcement. Adsuntil now, already they are two. Works, zero.
