The Minister of Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, argued in parliament on 10 September that it is difficult for any country to be prepared for large-scale disasters, but assured that the Executive intends to give Portugal more resilience. The minister recalled that the Government has already faced six events with serious consequences since 2024, including the drought in the Algarve, rural fires in natural parks, the blackout, new fires, the storm train and the effects of the war in the Middle East.
Regarding the storm train that mainly affected the Centro region at the beginning of this year, Maria da Graça Carvalho explained that the interventions took place before, during and after the event. Thanks to the good forecasting by IPMA and APA, the Government had anticipated by emptying the dams, with the Aguieira dam having discharged in January the equivalent of the annual consumption of the country's urban sector. The same procedure was applied to the Tagus and, to a lesser extent, to the Guadiana.
In the recovery interventions, the minister highlighted projects such as the reconstruction of the dike and irrigation canal between the choupal of Coimbra and the Rego canal, worth 3.6 million euros, the rehabilitation of floods in the Guadiana with three million euros, and the artificial nourishment of the Quarteira-Garrão coastal stretch with 15 million euros. The damages to water and sanitation networks amounted to around 40 million euros, with 229 incidents in supply and 344 in sanitation.
Regarding the electricity grid, the impact translated into 1.01 million customers without electricity at peak, 6,000 kilometres of network affected, 12,000 transformer substations and 47 substations. Water supply capacity in Portugal is currently at 77%, with the Guadiana at 81%, the Algarve at 77% and the Odelouca basin at 76%, while the Lima is at only 51% and the Ave at 59%.
