Between 00:00 on Thursday and 12:00 today, Civil Protection recorded 716 incidents due to bad weather, most of which occurred in the Greater Lisbon and Algarve regions.
The commander on duty at the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), José Costa, told Lusa that the most complicated situation occurred on Thursday afternoon and, between 00:00 and 12:00 today, 58 of the 716 incidents were recorded.
According to Jorge Costa, the majority of incidents were related to falling trees (304), flooding (157), falling structures (137) and road cleaning (92).
The commander also indicated that the areas most affected by the bad weather were Greater Lisbon, where there were 225 incidents, followed by the Algarve (72) and Lezíria do Tejo (50).
According to Civil Protection, on Thursday there were two extreme wind phenomena in the country, in the Tagus basin, which affected the municipalities of Montijo (Setúbal), Moita (Setúbal) and precipitation on the north bank of the Tagus, in the Lisbon area and Silves (Faro).
The phenomenon that occurred in the Tagus basin is being analyzed by the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) as it could technically be a tornado, according to ANEPC.
On Thursday, meteorologist Alessandro Marraccini told Lusa that “at around 2pm, a convective cell that was part of the frontal system that crossed the Portuguese coast during the afternoon, showed quite vigorous activity and crossed the region south of Lisbon”, adding that the IPMA immediately began receiving reports of the meteorological phenomenon.
At the end of the day on Thursday, at 18:20, the municipality of Silves, in the district of Faro, was affected by another extreme wind phenomenon, which caused “large trees to fall, vehicles to be affected and roofs of houses to be affected”, according to ANEPC.
Storm Nelson is affecting the weather in mainland Portugal, where precipitation will be a constant until Easter Sunday, according to the IPMA.
The ANEPC commander also told Lusa that the weather forecast for today is for snowfall and sea turbulence in the north and central regions, with no heavy rain expected.
