Depression ‘Aline’ follows ‘Babet’, which caused multiple incidents throughout country
Portugal’s Civil Protection is forecasting a “serious worsening of the weather picture” tomorrow, equivalent to an “extreme weather situation”.
With areas like the Algarve starting the morning bathed in warm sunshine, it may have been difficult for residents to imagine extreme weather on the way. But only yesterday, ‘depression Babet’ caused incidents up and down the country, including the Algarve where an “extreme phenomenon” ripped the roofs of homes in Choça Queimada, Castro Marim, while areas of downtown Faro, notorious for its inability to cope with heavy rain, were knee-deep in water.
Now, Depression Aline is on her way, and expected to bring winds of up to 120 km/h, thunderstorms and raging seas.
Ten ‘barras’ (sea ports) have been ‘closed to traffic’ in readiness, including Alvor’s in the Algarve. Waves of around 4-5m are said to be likely.
Everything points to an ‘unusual amount of rain’ falling, and “a lot of difficulty” for anyone out in it, and/ or on the roads.
Say reports this morning, the first signs of Aline should be making themselves noticed later this afternoon.
Meantime, various areas are ‘recovering’ from the battering received during the passing of ‘Babet’.
Fortunately there were no serious injuries reported in the 1,156 incidents called in to authorities, but in Quinta dos Ingleses, Carcavelos, where several homeless people are living in tents and caravans, a tree fell onto some of the tents – complicating inhabitants’ lives even further.
In Castro Marim, an elderly couple has had to be given temporary accommodation by the local authorities while it is decided how best to repair the damage to their house which suffered the brunt of yesterday’s ‘extreme phenomenon’, lasting around two minutes, and manifesting as a kind of tornado.
Advice, as always, is make sure drains are clear and structures that could be blown loose are properly ‘secured’. Try also to keep away from trees that could fall/ drop branches in the coming high winds.
