It happened late this Friday afternoon: there were 20 minutes of rain and strong wind on Porto Santo Island, in Madeira, which caused 25 incidents, including falling trees and damage to some houses.
Video surveillance footage from a cafe recorded the moment the terrace flew away, due to the strength of the wind, and Images shared on social media, which SIC confirmed were recorded in a hotel restaurant, show how the windows fell to the floor.
The wind caused three trees to fall, one of them was large, five homes suffered roof damage, a hotel unit was also affected, as was a school.
Around a hundred students will be out of class until Wednesday. Only on that day should the first cycle school with preschool in Campo de Baixo reopen. Until then, it’s time to repair what was destroyed, including tiles that flew off and blinds that were damaged.
António José Seguro’s civil house has already made it known that the Head of State is monitoring the situation.
Anyone who sees the images might think that the island of Porto Santo was hit by a tornado, but authorities are cautious:
“It is an extreme phenomenon associated with a convective cell with some intense precipitation, with around 20 mm of precipitation during 20 minutes”, explains Rui Faria from the Civil Protection regional operations command.
By the end of this Saturday afternoon, at least 96 incidents had been recorded in Madeira. The entire archipelago will be under yellow warning due to the forecast of heavy rain until 6pm this Sunday.
