The month of January is expected to be the rainiest on record, after December had already registered one of the highest rainfall totals on record, revealed the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), Pimenta Machado.
“We are living through an exceptional time, we have never lived through a time like this. We may have perhaps the rainiest January on record, and December was one of the rainiest months on record,” he stated.
The president of the APA attended on Tuesday afternoon, in Coimbra, a meeting dedicated to the current situation on the Mondego River and to the definition and articulation of mitigation and flood control measures in the region, which was attended by the Minister of Environment and Energy and several mayors.
During a break in the meeting, Pimenta Machado stressed that, despite an unprecedented crisis, they have managed to “manage the situation.”
“We are heading into this storm, which is the second this week and we are in the middle of a game that looks more like a battle. We did the last one and won, now we have the second one ahead and we are better prepared than ever,” he assured, noting that at this moment the level of the Agueira dam is at “115.9, when the reference level was 117.”
In his view, with the lower level, we are “better prepared than ever” to face the storm, which will “enter in the early hours of Wednesday and then gain intensity on Thursday.”
“It’s one more and then we have another waiting for us at the weekend. We have done everything to be well prepared to face these weather events,” he added.
To journalists, Pimenta Machado explained that the Mondego is a river different from the others that cross the country, flowing between dikes that are above ground level.
“Therefore, it is very unpredictable to know where they may break and also very unpredictable when they will break: that creates a flood wave with great energy, different, for example, from the floods of the Douro,” he said.
According to Pimenta Machado, the Douro floods are slow; the river rises and widens toward the banks, “giving time to calibrate the management of the measures.”
“But we are confident in the preventive work we have done. I insist, we are in the best possible position ever to face these two weather events that lie ahead,” he assured.
Although confident and always vigilant, “zero risk does not exist,” he stressed.
“There is no risk here, there is no risk anywhere, as we all know. But we are very confident in the preventive work we have done,” he concluded.
Ten people have died since last week as a result of the bad weather. Civil Protection accounted for five deaths directly associated with the passage of Depression Kristin, and the Câmara da Marinha Grande announced another fatality, to which four deaths later attributed to roof collapses (during repairs) or generator-related poisoning were added.
Total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, fallen trees and structures, road closures or restrictions and transportation services, especially railway lines, the closure of schools and cuts to energy, water and communications are the main material consequences of the storm, which caused hundreds of injuries and displacements.
Leiria, Coimbra and Santarém are the districts with the most damage.
The Government declared a state of calamity until next Sunday for 68 municipalities and announced a package of support measures worth up to 2.5 billion euros.
