Four households, a total of 17 people, were left homeless in the parishes of Ginetes, Santo António and Remédios da Bretanha, on the island of São Miguel, due to bad weather, the Civil Protection of Ponta Delgada announced today.
According to a source from Ponta Delgada City Hall’s Civil Protection department, in Ginetes an elderly man and his son were displaced and have been taken in by relatives, while in Remédios it is a couple with a child, who are still awaiting rehousing.
Also in Remédios, a couple with five children were displaced and are awaiting rehousing, while the displaced couple from Santo António, with three children, were rehoused in the Parish Center.
The City Council and the Ponta Delgada Municipal Civil Protection Service say that due to the heavy rain, more than 40 incidents were recorded in the parishes of Feteiras, Candelária, Ginetes, Sete Cidades, Mosteiros, Capelas, Santo António, Santa Bárbara, Remédios, Ajuda da Bretanha and Pilar da Bretanha.
According to the municipality, the situations reported “are mainly related to damage and flooding to municipal roads and homes, and there have also been reports of overflowing streams and, consequently, major damage to vehicles”.
Several municipal roads were closed to traffic in the parishes of Ginetes, Capelas, Santo António, Remédios and Ajuda da Bretanha, according to Ponta Delgada Civil Protection.
In the meantime, the Social Development Department of Ponta Delgada Town Hall is “carrying out a survey of the social damage resulting from the storm and is closely monitoring the situation of the rehoused families, in conjunction with the Azores Social Security Institute.
Fifty-six incidents, such as flooding, were recorded between Sunday night and today in the municipalities of Ponta Delgada and Ribeira Grande, on the island of São Miguel, following heavy rainfall, Civil Protection announced today.
The worsening of the weather was due to the passage of a frontal swell through the Azores archipelago.
The forecast for heavy rain, which may be accompanied by thunderstorms, prompted the Portuguese Sea and Atmosphere Institute to issue a yellow warning (the least serious on a scale of three) for the Eastern group (to which the island of São Miguel belongs) last night.
