“Anyone who does not need to use a personal vehicle should not do so during the day today and should avoid areas with trees. In fact, the Porto City Council has just closed all urban parks”, appealed the commander of the Porto Municipal Police, António Leitão da Silva, during the work to remove a tree about 20 meters high, which fell into the street of Praça da República, forcing the road to be closed.

Speaking to journalists, António Leitão da Silva added that traffic in the Areosa area, on Avenida Fernão Magalhães, in the “upward” direction is also closed due to bad weather, as well as the marginal area of ​​Dom Carlos I.

“We are in an extreme situation. We currently have some areas of the city of Porto that have complex circulation problems due to falling trees and other parts of some buildings on public roads. In the case of Praça da República, we had to make a complete cut. We still have another two or two and a half hours to go [for the removal work]”, explained Leitão da Silva at around 10:40.

António Leitão da Silva warned that if necessary, part of Avenida Brasil, in Foz do Porto, would also be cut as it is close to the sea coast, and asked motorists not to park near areas with trees in the city of Porto.

According to the commander of Porto's Civil Protection, Carlos Marques, there are records of at least 20 incidents related to bad weather in Porto, mostly related to “falling trees”, but also structure falls, some infiltration and flooding due to the heavy showers that were felt.

A tree of about 20 meters high fell today at 8:50 am in Praça da República, in the heart of the city of Porto, causing damage to vehicles and a bus stop and blocked roads, but no injuries were reported.