LISBON (Reuters) – Torrential rains battered parts of the Iberian peninsula on Tuesday, flooding streets, sweeping away cars and forcing Portuguese authorities to close some roads and mobilize the armed forces to support clean-up efforts.
Lisbon’s mayor’s office put the city on a “red” alert, urging people to stay home and avoid moving to the capital at the mouth of the Tagus River.
Since midnight, the Civil Protection has reported nearly 1,500 incidents across Portugal, mainly in Lisbon and the provinces of Santarem, Portalegre and Évora, including flooded streets, tunnels, train stations and shops.
A spokesman for the armed forces said that the civilian authorities had requested assistance in pumping water in the flooded areas.
Schools have closed in Oeiras, part of the Lisbon region, and students have been sent home.
The Tagus River contingency plan has been activated, which means there is a risk it could flood.
The IPMA weather agency said the precipitation was likely to remain “strong and continuous” throughout the day.
The mayor’s office said earlier on Tuesday that the city’s buses and trams were not running, the metro was not fully operational and some train stations were inaccessible due to flooding.
[1/4] Submerged statues are seen on a flooded street in Alges, Oeiras, Portugal, December 13, 2022. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes
Bad weather also brought Lisbon’s metropolitan area to a halt last Wednesday, when a person died in a flooded basement.
Supermarket owner Elia Santos, 33, said water entered her shop in the Alges, near Lisbon, last week but “this time it was worse”, and estimates she may have lost at least €6,000 in damages not counting. Electrical appliances.
“Everything is lost,” said Artur Rosa, 57, who flooded his real estate office for the second time in less than a week.
“It is complete devastation – the window is broken, the furniture is completely destroyed… all the documents we have had to keep for 10 years.”
Heavy rains battered other parts of the country on Tuesday, with the IPMA declaring “orange” weather in all but one mainland region.
Neighboring Spain has also been affected, with the country’s mid-west region of Extremadura placed on the second-highest level of emergency. Heavy rain caused the road to collapse, which resulted in the rescue of a group of ten people.
The Lisbon City Council has been criticized for failing over the years to build the infrastructure to prevent flooding. Mayor Carlos Moedas said work on building a 5-kilometer (3-mile) drainage tunnel should start soon.
“You have to think about the infrastructure – it’s a long-term problem,” said Stephanie Nolasco, 23, a manager at a flooded restaurant in the Alges.
Additional reporting by Pedro Nunes, Sergio Goncalves, Catarina Demoni and Patricia Vicente Roa in Lisbon; Additional reporting by Emma González in Madrid. Editing by Andre Khalil and Janet Lawrence
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