The passage of hurricane Leslie, which arrived in Portugal as a tropical storm on the night of 13 to 14 October 2018, affected, with varying degrees of severity, many hundreds of homes, displacing 57 persons in the district of Coimbra, three in Viseu and one in Leiria - corresponding to the most affected territories and of which Aveiro is also part.

The wind, with a gust of 170 km/h, the highest value observed in Portugal (in the Figueira da Foz area), was the phenomenon that caused the highest number of occurrences, according to the Civil Protection, which accounted for a total of almost 2,500 occurrences (almost half of which related to fallen trees and about a fifth with falling structures), mobilising around 8,000 first responders.

Other municipalities were also hit by Leslie, but with less impact proportions, but also causing damage, mainly in the agricultural sector, for which the government opened a €15 million non-repayable line of support and two lines of credit worth a total of €5 million.

In the forest area, the authorities recorded €12.7 million of losses in about 3,500 hectares of 14 Portuguese forest perimeters along the central coast, affecting eight municipalities.

The storm affected resin producers, destroying between 200,000 and 250,000 spouts located in pine forests, mainly on the coastal strip between Figueira da Foz and Leiria, according to the industry association.

Leslie resulted in the participation of 28,000 claims to the insurance companies, which, according to the Portuguese Insurance Association, reach an estimated cost of more than €60 million, that is, about half of the total value of the damages caused directly by the storm.