A situation of energetic crisis has been declared on the hurricane battered islands of Flores and Corvo in the Azores.
Since Lorenzo hit the archipelago in the early hours of Wednesday authorities have been grappling with the consequences – the worst of which have been the total destruction of the islands ports.
By declaring ‘a situation of energetic crisis’, fuel will be rationed until infrastructures have been repaired – with supplies ensured for all public and ‘essential’ services (including the transport of patients, funeral vehicles, etc).
Say reports, the crisis situation will be in place until midnight on October 31.
Despite political voices suggesting Lorenzo’s passage was “less damaging than feared”, over 50 people need rehousing and the cost of all the destruction has yet to be quantified.
Prime minister António Costa is not going to the islands as he intimated he might earlier this week – but sending instead his ‘right hand’, economy minister Pedro Siza Vieira, who will be arriving today.
