“Of the 160 incidents, 136 were recorded between 12:00 pm and 4:20 pm, due to the heavy rain that occurred during lunchtime,” Nuno Marques, duty officer at the Lisbon Firefighters Regiment, told the Lusa agency.
Of these 136 requests for help, “108 were related to flooding and seven to falling trees”, he stated, in an assessment carried out around 4:30 pm, when 85 incidents were still active in the city of Lisbon.
The floods occurred “mainly on roads and in homes, in this case due to problems with the roofs and lack of cleaning of gutters”, explained the officer on duty.
The intense rain caused flooding on Estrada de Chelas and Rua das Pretas, in downtown Lisbon, but no road was closed to traffic. At 4:30 pm, traffic was congested in the Avenida de Berlin tunnel, “due to the height of the water”, he also told Lusa.
According to Nuno Marques, all operatives from the 11 firefighter fire stations were involved in these incidents, with the exception of the dangerous materials team, and more than 40 vehicles.
Bad weather is expected to continue until the end of the week
Based on forecasts from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IMPA), Civil Protection warned on Monday of the possibility of wind, sometimes strong, in the highlands and on the west coast with gusts of up to 80 kilometers per hour.
For this Wednesday (27), the IPMA predicts rain, sometimes heavy and persistent, which could be hail and accompanied by thunderstorms and strong sea agitation, with waves from the northwest on the western coast, reaching six to seven meters north of Cape Carvoeiro (maximum height of 12 meters).
For the highlands, especially in the north and center, forecasts point to snowfall, gradually lowering the level to 600/800 meters.
According to forecasts, the rain is expected to continue until the end of the week, with a drop in the minimum temperature in Greater Lisbon.
