Heavy rain, floods batter Lisbon, residents urged to stay home

Heavy rain battered the Portuguese capital on Tuesday, flooding tunnels, sweeping away automobiles and forcing authorities to droop bus and tram services and close some fundamental roads.

The Lisbon mayor’s workplace put the town on a “red” weather warning at around 6.30 a.m. (0630 GMT) and urged human beings to continue to be domestic and keep away from commuting to the capital in the estuary of the Tagus River.

Since midnight, emergency offerings have said 275 incidents in Lisbon and the neighbouring Setubal district, consisting of flooded streets, tunnels and train stations. Some shops and restaurants have been semi-submerged.

Civil Protection Commander Andre Fernandes instructed a news conference it “would now not be easy” to return the state of affairs to ordinary as the rainfall used to be probable to intensify.

The mayor’s workplace stated town buses and trams have been not operating, the metro used to be not absolutely functioning and a number of instruct stations were inaccessible due to flooding.

Adverse weather prerequisites additionally brought Lisbon’s metropolitan location to a standstill closing Wednesday, when one character died in a flooded basement.

Heavy rain also hit other components of the us of a on Tuesday, with weather agency IPMA declaring a purple alert in the central district of Portalegre.

“Today is a day to stay at home, work from home, a little bit like we did all through the pandemic,” IPMA chief Miguel Miranda told SIC television. “It’s the only way we can assist those working to help us in the streets.”

Lisbon’s metropolis hall has been criticised for failing over the years to build infrastructure to stop flooding. Mayor Carlos Moedas stated work to construct a 5-km (3-mile) drainage tunnel ought to begin soon.