“The night was relatively calm considering what was expected. From midnight, when the civil protection alert began, until 7 am, we had 173 incidents, most of them in the north and in the Algarve”, Elísio Pereira from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority told Lusa news agency (ANEPC).

“In the Algarve, we had 61 incidents, 31 of which were floods and the others were road cleaning, fallen trees and mass movements,” he said, adding that 15 incidents were recorded in the Lisbon region.

According to the civil protection source, during that period there were no victims to report, no displaced people, and no roads were closed due to bad weather.

On Monday, ANEPC warned the population about the worsening weather in mainland Portugal until Wednesday, with heavy rain, accompanied by thunderstorms and hail due to depression Garoe, and warned about preventive measures.

Based on the forecasts of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) in relation to the depression, which has affected Madeira and the Azores for two days and which has moved towards the continent, ANEPC warned of situations of “precipitation, sometimes strong, accompanied by thunderstorms and occasionally hail”, until next Wednesday, especially in the central and southern regions and on the north coast.

This situation may be accompanied by winds from the south quadrant, with gusts of up to 75 kilometres/hour (Km/h) on the coast and highlands, as well as rough seas from Tuesday on the west coast and south of Cape Carvoeiro, including the western Algarve, with waves of up to 5.5 meters.

In view of these IPMA predictions, ANEPC warned of the possible occurrence of flooding in urban areas, caused by the accumulation of rainwater, obstruction of drainage systems or coastal overtopping, as well as flooding, exacerbated by the overflow of the bed of some rivers and streams.