Ten thousand customers, mostly in the central and northern coastal regions, were without electricity at 11.30 am today, with more than 400 operational personnel working for network provider E-Redes mobilised on the ground.
“E-Redes has mobilised 400 operational personnel in the field, with all teams mobilsed for reinforcement to cope with any potential worsening of the impact on the distribution network,” the company has told Lusa.
In a previous statement, two hours earlier, E-Redes indicated that 8,000 homes were without power due to adverse weather conditions.
Mainland Portugal is being affected by the effects of Storm Joseph, with rain, wind, snow and rough seas. Several warnings have been issued by the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA).
According to IPMA, weather will actually calm today, but worsen from midnight.
The institute has issued a red warning – the most severe – for the districts of Porto, Aveiro and Coimbra between 3am and 6am, forecasting winds with gusts of around 140 kilometers per hour (km/h).
The districts of Viseu, Guarda and Braga are also under red alert due to wind gusts of around 140 km/h between 5am and 9am on Wednesday.
The remaining districts will be under orange alert due to strong winds with gusts of 100 km/h, which could reach 120 km/h on high ground.
IPMA has also issued a red warning between 3am and 9pm tomorrow for the districts of Faro, Porto, Setúbal, Viana do Castelo, Lisbon, Leiria, Beja, Aveiro, Coimbra and Braga due to rough seas – with waves from the west/northwest expected to be seven to eight meters high, potentially reaching a maximum height of 14 meters.
The districts of Bragança, Viseu, Porto, Guarda, Vila Real, Viana do Castelo, Braga and Castelo Branco will also be under orange alert and Aveiro under yellow alert from 12:00 today until 6am tomorrow due to snowfall above 800 meters.
IPMA has also placed all districts (18) of mainland Portugal under yellow warning between 3am and 9am Wednesday because of sometimes heavy rain.
The weather is expected to improve starting from Wednesday morning.
The Azores and Madeira are also under several weather warnings.
Source: LUSA
