Rain further batters storm-hit Portugal, thousands evacuated

More heavy rain flooded several rural areas in the north of storm-battered Portugal on Wednesday, leaving levees at risk of bursting around the medieval city of Coimbra and forcing authorities to evacuate about 3,000 residents as a precaution.

A succession of deadly storms has hammered mostly central and southern parts of the country since late January, blowing roofs off houses, flooding several towns and leaving hundreds of thousands without electricity for days. At least 15 people have died as a consequence of the storms, including indirect victims.

As the storms let up this week, a weather phenomenon known as an “atmospheric river” – a wide corridor of concentrated water vapour carrying massive amounts of moisture from the tropics – brought new downpours, affecting the north to a greater extent.

RISK OF DAM OVERFLOWING

Municipal authorities in Coimbra ordered the precautionary evacuation late on Tuesday of around 3,000 people most at risk from the River Mondego bursting its banks, and the operation was still under way on Wednesday, with police making door-to-door checks and bussing residents to shelters.

Regional Civil Protection official Carlos Tavares said on Wednesday the situation could worsen between late Wednesday and midday Thursday, as the rain could cause the Aguieira dam, 35 km northeast of Coimbra, “to overflow, sweep away levees and trigger further flooding”.

Part of Coimbra’s ancient city wall, on a hillside in one of Europe’s oldest university towns and a UNESCO World Heritage site, collapsed, shutting the road below and forcing the closure of the municipal market, the city hall said.

Prime Minister Luis Montenegro was due in Coimbra to oversee the emergency response after Interior Minister Maria Lucia Amaral resigned following criticism from opposition parties and local communities over what they described as the authorities’ slow and failed response to devastating Storm Kristin two weeks ago.

In central Portugal, just across the River Tagus from Lisbon, authorities evacuated the village of Porto Brandao due to the risk of landslides, and around 30 people were removed from their homes after a landslide in the neighbouring beachside area of Caparica.