Twenty families had to be relocated in Ribeira Grande, in the Azores, due to the heavy rain that occurred late on Monday afternoon and which also caused damage to vehicles and establishments, the local mayor said today.
“We certainlyhavemorethan20 recorded cases of damage to houses. There is also a lot of damage to public roads and vehicles,” the mayor of Ribeira Grande, on the island of São Miguel, told Lusa news agency, adding that “there is no record” of injuries.
According to Alexandre Gaudêncio (PSD), the situation occurred “between 5pm local time (6pm in Lisbon) and 5.45pm local time” on Monday and, “in total, 44 incidents were recorded”, many of them floods in houses, “some of which did not offer conditions for households to spend the night”.
The Ribeira Grande mayor said that “the majority of people were rehoused by family members” and “only one family had to be rehoused in local accommodation”.
The mayor also told Lusa that the “atmospheric phenomenon that hit the south coast of Ribeira Grande”, known as a “water storm”, caused damage to vehicles, specifically in the parishes of Matriz and Riberinha.
“Nobody expected it. During this period, a load of water fell on the south coast of Ribeira Grande. The increased rainfall caused the water lines to fill up, namely the Ribeira Grande stream and the Ribeirinha stream, a situation that caused the water lines to overflow in the city center and in the parish of Ribeirinha, specifically in the place of Gramas and the parish center,” Alexandre Gaudêncio told Lusa.
After an initial analysis, carried out on Monday, today the municipality continues “with teams on the ground to survey the damage”, he said, explaining that, as well as the council, resources from the parish councils, firefighters and PSP have been on the ground from the outset.
“Regardless of whether our teams are on the ground or not, we’re going to make an online form available today where anyone can send in the damage they’ve suffered so that we can quickly make this count and quickly activate the resources that are at our disposal,” said Alexandre Gaudêncio.
The mayor of Ribeira Grande also said that work was continuing to clean up the roads.
