The rescue of 500 tons of rice in Montemor-o-Velho

A young farmer prevented rising waters from causing major damage to a warehouse. Leiria firefighters thank you for your solidarity.

One young farmer of the village of no, in Montemor-o-Velho, withdrew of a storage drying rice more than 500 tons of that grain, keeping it safe from the rising waters of the surrounding land.

The young man, who asked not to be identified, has worked full-time with his father for five years in a family business, and went to remove the rice from the premises when he saw the water getting close to the warehouses.

“Em 2019 [quando um dique rebentou no Mondego, inundando os campos do vale central]we had a little scare, but nothing that reached the values [de altura de água] of now. We had 80% of production still drying in storage and we are selling it to industries”, he explained.

Abroad, the Lusa report found that water reached, late this morning, the access ramp to one of the warehouses, located in the west of the town of Ereira, facing the agricultural fields – transformed into a huge lake – that extend to the parish of Mallorca (Figueira da Foz).

The water around Ereira, a town that was at risk of becoming isolated, It rose around one meter since Monday morning, submerging recycling bins, public equipment in the town’s leisure park and at least one industrial gas supply tank.

Solidarity in Leiria

The barracks of Leiria Volunteer Firefighters was completely faded at the passage of , with a ‘crowdfunding’ action raising almost 52,600 euros of the 60 thousand needed for works, in four days.

Leiria City Council launched the operation “Solidarity Roof”, initiative especially aimed at qualified technicians and companies with the aim of repairing roofs, with the guarantee of accommodation for participants who are not from the municipality.