The number of households without electricity (and, as a usual consequence, water) this morning has risen to 45,000.
Only yesterday, at the same time, supply network E-REDES announced it had whittled down the number of households ‘in the dark’ to 33,000.
But due to “the emergence of new faults and flooding, mostly in the the areas worst impacted by Storm Kristin over two weeks ago” the number has now increased by another 12,000.
E-REDES insists it is working as fast as it can, and continues with advice to people who come upon “damaged or fallen electricity infrastructure” to stay well away from it, and call 800 506 506 or email balcaodigital.e-redes.pt.
The country’s various telecoms companies are also working desperately to restore mobile phone and sundry telecommunications services since Storm Kristin. According to reports, there are roughly 3,300 technicians ‘on the ground’ but still “thousands of clients without service”.
Recovering communications is expected to cost networks “hundreds of millions of euros” – and the option to bury cables underground (in order for them to be less vulnerable in future storms) has already been discounted as economically unviable.
