Two men, customers of a bar in downtown Albufeira, had to be rescued today, in the early afternoon, by the GNR and by the Fire Department, when the men already had water up to their necks, due to the flood that swept through that area of the city.
To remove the two men from the bar, in an operation that was followed live by CMTV, it was necessary to break the glass window of the bar and stretch, from one side of the street to the other, a fire hose to serve as a lifeline, to hold rescuers and rescued people. The hardest part was crossing the street, as the current was very strong, with the water reaching more than a meter and a half in height.
The rescue of the two men, which was accompanied by many people, some of them trapped on the upper floors of the buildings due to rising waters, was greeted by a round of applause.
Along with the disappearance of an elderly person from his car, in the Boliqueime area, this was the most dramatic situation of a Sunday full of floods all over the Algarve, but with greater incidence in several areas of the municipalities of Albufeira and Loulé.
GNR source told the Sul Informação that «the greatest number of requests for help came from downtown Albufeira».
In this area, in addition to the rescue of the two men, Abel Gomes, 2nd Commander of the CDOS, told our newspaper that authorities and firefighters had to help more than three dozen people to cross flooded streets and avenues or who were trapped by water inside buildings and cars and helped push vehicles caught by rising waters.
In the so-called street of bars, in Albufeira, the water reached the first floor, while in Avenida da Liberdade and other important streets in the city, the force of the current dragged tables, chairs and machinery from the terraces, as well as the filling of shops and cafes. and restaurants, taking everything out to sea.
At Praia dos Pescadores, as the photograph documents, the torrent opened deep ditches in the sand and, on the surface of the brown water, half river, half sea, there were tables and chairs floating.
Still in Albufeira, the Health Center was practically inaccessible, as the stream that runs in a valley along the access road to the city overflowed and flooded the accesses to that health structure. This stream was, in part, channeled by recently completed works, which also included the construction of a kind of urban park, now razed by the flood.
The floods also caused damage to shops, restaurants, houses and garages in the city of Quarteira, with Rua Vasco da Gama being the hardest hit, in Algoz, in Ferreiras and Fonte de Boliqueime.
There were dozens of cars caught by the water, in parking lots, streets and roads, in Albufeira, Guia, Montechoro, Balaia, Salgados, Ferreiras, Tunes, Patã, Boliqueime, Quarteira, Vilamoura, Algoz, among others. In Albufeira, even the GNR headquarters was flooded.
The same source added that, throughout the Algarve, there were more than two dozen roads cut, «a most in Albufeira, Vilamoura, Quarteira and Boliqueime”, but also some in the municipalities of Silves and Portimão.
Contacted by Sul Informação, the GNR Transit Detachment of Faro He added that there were traffic cuts on the A22, due to a landslide at kilometer 38, as well as on the EN295, under the viaduct, in the Vale Paraíso area (Albufeira). At this location, a viaduct under the EN125, between Albufeira and Ferreiras, at least two vehicles were stopped in the middle of the water.
In Patã, on the edge of the EN125, a wall fell, but it did not force a roadblock. There were also traffic jams due to the water sheets, some of which were quite deep, which were generated in various areas of the EN125, namely in the AlgarveShopping, Guia, Vale Judeu area, among others. Since 18 pm, according to the source of the GNR Transit Detachment, "everything is clear".
On a very busy day in the Algarve, there were also at least two falling trees, which hit parked cars – one in Olhão, the other in the Largo da Estação de Faro.
Click here to see the photo gallery on floods in the Algarve, with close to a hundred images.
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