Hundreds of emergency calls received overnight and into this morning
Cars underwater, flooded streets, homes and houses encircled by water as at least five northern districts today were on red alert for wild weather
The Alto Minho and Viana do Castelo bore the brunt of consequences. Social media is ‘awash’ with clips showing churning floodwaters. Even the river Minho burst its banks in some places.
Roads were closed – many of them in rural areas; trees came down; walls collapsed; Christmas lights and decorations were torn from their supports – but mercifully there are no reports of any injuries.
By this afternoon, the worst of the storm had passed, and bad weather was making itself felt in the Algarve, which began receiving heavy rain as darkness fell.
For all those who are secretly fed up with the amount of rain that has been falling recently (even though we are constantly being told how important it is for the land/ the situation of drought that needs to be recovered) the winds of change are also blowing.
Says Méteo-Trás-Os-Montes Facebook page: “Next week will see a radical change in meteorological conditions throughout mainland territory. THERE WILL NOT BE RAIN and we will register a fall in temperatures, especially in minimum temperatures, as maximums will still be above average values for this time of year. We can look forwards to frosts in inland areas, mists in valleys and low-lying land, with the habitual thermic inversions”.
So hang on in there: the sun is on its way back.
