Eight months after the late January storms, 16 roads remain closed out of the 336 that had total closures, revealed Miguel Pinto Luz, Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, at the Special Committee for National Resilience. The official stated that in several situations it is impossible to rebuild the roads in their previous locations, citing as examples the EN-232 in Manteigas, where stretches disappeared, and giant craters on the EN8 in the Oeste region.
In railway infrastructure, where 681 incidents were recorded, the Beira Baixa Line has a reopening date of September 20, while the Oeste Line will reopen on all sections in January next year. Hugo Espírito Santo, Secretary of State for Infrastructure, noted that parts of this latter line were left suspended in the air over hundreds of meters. The total budget of Infraestruturas de Portugal for these repairs is 490 million euros, of which 221 million have already been contracted for roads and 78 million for the railway.
In telecommunications, two of the three operators have already reached normal service levels, while Meo had 323 faults as of September 1, representing more than 99% of resolved incidents. However, approximately 16 thousand poles and kilometers of cables remain unreplaced on the ground, with final restoration expected only in the first half of 2027.
Regarding support for house reconstruction, of the 35,908 applications submitted, 82% have been analyzed and 93% of those have already been paid, totaling over 80 million euros distributed to families. The average state support is 4,200 euros, higher than the 3,700 euros of the average amount paid by insurance companies. The PTRR, approved in June 2026, provides for a total investment of 22.6 billion euros to cover these and other reconstruction and prevention interventions.
