Faro, Quarteira and São Brás de Alportel among affected towns
Floods have been reported all over the Algarve between Sunday afternoon and this (Monday) morning, with Faro alone having registered about 30 occurrences related to heavy rain.
Around 80 occurrences were reported across the region, according to civil protection authorities.
Several roads in Quarteira were completely flooded on Sunday due to the downpour. Footage shared on social media shows cars struggling to drive through the town’s flooded streets, which forced some drivers to try to push their cars away from some of the worst affected areas.
Roads were also flooded in São Brás de Alportel, with one of our readers reporting that the water even made its way into his home’s garage.
In Faro, the situation became so bad this morning that firefighters from Portimão, Lagos and Loulé were called to help deal with the growing calls for help.
The night and early hours were “relatively calm”, a source from Faro’s District Centre for Rescue Operations (CDOS) told Lusa news agency, but the situation got more complicated in the morning – particularly after 7am when it started raining heavily in the town.
The impact of the floods remains to be determined, although the same source added that there have been no reports of damage to homes requiring people to be rehoused.
The districts of Faro and Beja are today under orange alert (the second most serious) issued by the Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) due to heavy rain until 3pm. From then on, the warning will turn yellow (third in the classification by severity) and will remain in effect until 6pm.
Faro and Beja are also under yellow warning because of the possibility of frequent and scattered thunderstorms (until 3pm today) and strong winds from the south with gusts up to 70 kilometres per hour until 6pm today.
The alert issued on Sunday by civil protection authorities is based on IPMA weather forecasts.
According to IPMA, rainfall will be more frequent and intense in the south, with the possibility of thunderstorms and weak to moderate wind (up to 30 km/h) from the east, and moderate to strong (30 to 40 km/h) of the southern quadrant in the south until mid-afternoon, and in the highlands, with gusts up to 70 km/h.
Civil protection authorities also warned of the possibility of flooding due to overflowing waterways, landslides due to “instability of slopes” which can be magnified by the effects of forest fires, dragging of loose objects onto the roads, detachment of mobile structures and the formation of sheets of water.
It also recommended unblocking drainage systems, fixing loose structures, taking particular care when driving in areas with trees due to the possibility of falling and broken branches, special care near riverbanks, adopting defensive driving, and not crossing flooded areas.
By Michael Bruxo
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