Flood causes damage to the Coimbra Academic Association building | Coimbra

In the early hours of Sunday, a combination of wind, rain and drainage problems caused the Coimbra Academic Association (AAC) building to be invaded by water, which ran down the building’s stairs, causing flooding and forcing the power to be cut.

The damage has not yet been accounted for, but there are several sections of the house affected, the president of the general board of AAC, Renato Daniel, tells PÚBLICO. The manager explains that the wind, the accumulation of leaves in the roof’s drainage system and the rain that fell that night led to water running into the building.

The Coimbra Firefighters were called to the scene and, “preventively, for safety reasons”, the electrical panel was turned off, he says. The power outage led to the suspension of broadcasting by Rádio Universidade de Coimbra (RUC), which is housed in the same building, since 2:42 am on Sunday.

On Monday morning, the switchboard was switched on and the RUC broadcast returned to the air. According to the radio’s president, Gonçalo Pina, there was no material damage to be recorded.

The same did not happen with other sections of the house. Renato Daniel explains that the management’s own facilities were affected, as well as accounting services. In an assessment that is still being made, he notes that the Philatelic Section also suffered damage.

Sunday’s flooding is not related to the precarious state of the building, emphasizes the rectory of the University of Coimbra (UC), in response to PÚBLICO, by and-email. He adds that, in order to “minimize the risk of a new occurrence, maintenance and cleaning mechanisms will be reinforced, in conjunction with AAC management”.

The building, which is more than 60 years old and is part of the complex classified as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, has never had any major works done. The issue resurfaces every time there are problems at the AAC headquarters or in the building complex on the same block.

More recently, there were works to stop infiltrations in the building, says Renato Daniel, who is waiting for an intervention in the electrical installations. The UC mentions that there are two ongoing processes: “one relating to more urgent works, in the design and licensing phase; the other process concerns a more global intervention, of requalification and recovery of the entire building complex and gardens, the project of which is expected to begin soon”.

However, the rectory does not set dates. In February 2023, when a concrete roof collapsed in Cantinas Azuis, the UC announced that it was drawing up a “general building maintenance plan”, although the document has not yet seen the light of day. Now, the university states that it is “under development”, but highlights that a “structural inspection of the AAC building” has already been carried out.