The mayor of Lisbon described Tuesday morning as “difficult and very complicated” due to bad weather. Carlos Moedas said that it rained 30 millimeters in one hour, which is equivalent to 30 liters of water per square meter. This meteorological situation is “rare” and can be compared to what happened last week, when it rained 40 millimeters in one hour. “These are events that have never occurred with this frequency, from week to week, it is worrying.”

Speaking to Rádio Observador from the Monsanto control center, Carlos Moedas guaranteed that, during the early morning, “all services were helping.” “All the media are on the street, both the firefighters and the municipal police,” stressed the mayor, assuring that “people can feel protected”: “Everything is on the street.”

During the early morning, there was a report of an injuryin Calvário, in Alcântara, “in a situation of hypothermia”, said Carlos Moedas, adding that assistance was provided immediately.

In a call to the population, Carlos Moedas asked them to try to enter the capital. “If they were able to come back, it was a service they provided to everyone. It will be chaotic. If you don’t have any urgency, at this moment it is very important not to enter Lisbon, especially since the firefighters have to move from one place to another”.

Regarding the schools, Carlos Moedas said that he contacted the Secretary of State for Internal Administration, Patrícia Gaspar, and indicated that the “total closure of the schools order” had not been given. However, the mayor has indicated that, if parents live far from their children’s schools, they should not take them, there being “flexibility” in terms of justifying absences. “It is part of the bad weather situation”stressed.

Lisbon registered 250 occurrences

Carlos Moedas noticed that, at dawn in Lisbon, Civil Protection registered some 250 incidents on Tuesday due to bad weather, figures comparable to those of last week.

“I don’t have the IPMA numbers, but this very rare and very infrequent weather event could have happened,” said the mayor of Lisbon, who linked the heavy rains to “climate changes”. “We have to change structurally and we are going to make tunnels [de drenagem] since March. But that doesn’t solve today’s problems.”concluded the mayor.

For the next few hours, Carlos Moedas expects an improvement in the weather, mainly “from noon, one in the afternoon.”