The Chamber of Lagoa announced today that the Municipal Civil Protection has expanded the ban on the movement of people on the Nossa Senhora da Rocha Promontory, as Sul Informação had already advanced last friday.
The ban comes as a result of the collapse of part of the wall and part of the cliff next to the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha, a situation that occurred on November 27 and made visible the weaknesses of the Promontory, stresses the municipality.
The municipal executive, led by Francisco Martins, as well as the executive of the Parish Council of Porches, led by Luís Bentes, showed «great concern in terms of security», stresses the Chamber in a press release.
Mayor Francisco Martins even stressed that “the safety of visitors and the stability of that iconic monument on the coast of Lagoa must be taken to the last consequences”.
The municipality recalls that what happened, like the Sul Informação reported first hand, it was that a strip of the cliff, about 3 meters long, in front of the entrance portico of the Chapel of Nossa Senhora da Rocha, gave way, dragging a sector of the plastered stone wall that overlapped it.
At the same time, in the northwestern part of the promontory, the fissures that marked the old wall have turned into cracks that in some places are already 3 centimeters wide, "indicating that the rock on which the Promontory is supported is moving".
"The temperamental character of the cliffs in the county, marked by frequent landslides, some of which are quite ostentatious, is at the origin of the lacy appearance of the cliffs and a coastline cut by headlands, leys, bays and beaches very embedded, of an undeniable charm." highlights the Câmara de Lagoa.
«The landscape (and sometimes historical) value of parts of our coast like that has, however, a downside in matters of security of people and goods, given the dangers associated with its enormous fragility, largely due to the times and constant movement of sea water and its surf, heavily punishing the cliffs and cliffs», he adds.
The previous signs and the observation of the escarpment indicate, according to the municipality, that “the continuation of the fall of blocks is inevitable, events that, moreover, are part of the nature of this stretch of coast”.
In order to assess the possible solutions to safeguard the safety and heritage in presence, after a careful assessment of the geology of the site, the Lagoa City Council has already requested a meeting with the Portuguese Environment Agency / Administration of the Hydrographic Region of the Algarve.
Moreover, the Chamber has been alerting these entities, which protect the coast, to the «alarming signs of collapse that have been showing with increasing frequency, threatening the very stability of the Chapel, classified as a Property of Public Interest».
At the end of the afternoon of Friday (the 28th), technicians from those entities were on site to make a first assessment of the situation, and the first measures to mitigate the risks for visitors have already been implemented and involved the related Municipal services Civil Protection, having been installed some protection equipment, intended to limit access to the affected areas along the west sector of the promontory.
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