The damage caused by the rains in Albufeira was less than initially feared, with public infrastructure suffering minor damage and private infrastructure showing no difficulty in recovering so far, the mayor said on Monday.
Without giving a defined value of the losses recorded, the mayor of Albufeira, José Carlos Rolo, told the Lusa agency that “In public terms, the damage was very little or practically nil“, only recording damage to the floors, which were repaired immediately.
According to the mayor, if the works on the western mid-slope collector, which have been carried out since the beginning of October, had already been completed, the arrival of water to the center and flooding like those that occurred last Thursday would have been avoided. Fair, reaching some commercial establishments.
“Part of this water that went to the center of the city is precisely because the collector on the western slope was under construction, because the water did not enter there, because it was under construction,” he explained, highlighting that, if there had been Once completed, the water would have been diverted to another basin, preventing it from accumulating in the center of the city.
The works are carried out within the framework of the Albufeira General Drainage Plan, which represents a global investment of 21 million euroslaunched to prevent flooding in the city center after a rain event that caused considerable damage in that area in November 2015.
In addition to the works on the western half-slope collector, the works on the eastern collector are still missing, the project of which has already been completed, and also a tunnel, which “is quite expensive”, budgeted at “about 40 million euros” and for which Financing has not yet been obtained, explained José Carlos Rolo.
According to the mayor, the works on the western collector of Albufeira “should be close to half”, coinciding with Avenida de Ténis, and are expected to “take the water that rains on the western slope of the city center to another river basin ” and that “currently flows into the center of Albufeira.”
With the same objective, a reclassification of the water arrival to INATEL and a regularization of this water line was carried out, an area where floods are recorded every year every time it rains with greater intensity, he said.
José Carlos Rolo also said that “then, three years ago, a pumping station was built in Praça dos Pescadores, which takes the water to another level and then goes to the sea, because the square is below sea level.”
The mayor of the Faro district pointed out that “there are no certain figures” about the value of the damage recorded with the rains of recent days in the municipality and considered that the extent of the damage “was very small”, considering that “the amount It was inflated” registered the seriousness of the situation.
José Carlos Rolo indicated that “Only a few square meters of sidewalk were affected”but “they were replaced on the same day,” and there was “no great expression” in terms of damage to public infrastructure.
“As for individuals, no one has spoken out, so they will surely solve the problem themselves,” said the mayor, emphasizing that “so far no information has reached the municipality about individuals who need support.
Source: Observadora
