In August, the streets of downtown Albufeira are full of people. Tourists sit on the terraces, drink beer, eat ice cream, walk around and look at shop windows. In November, the movement is usually smaller, but this Monday it wasn't. Hundreds of people were in the muddy streets trying to recover the life that the area used to have and that a torrent of water and mud took it away in a few moments this Sunday.
The rainwater, which the drainage system was unable to drain, swept the terraces, blew up shop windows, and the scenery, in the morning, amazed anyone, even those who had already seen images of the destruction. There were chairs upside down in the streets, bottles, refrigerators, tables, balls, forks, a pumpkin...
One of the people who was stunned by the scene of destruction was the Scottish Catherine Campbell, who arrived at Largo Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco, for a coffee, and found mud, stones, sand and closed terraces.
«I wanted to come here for a coffee and everything disappeared. I'm sorry for all these people. In Scotland, we don't have anything like that," he told the Sul Informação.
Catherine assured, however, that this situation did not spoil the three-week vacation that ends next Tuesday. "It's great to be here and nothing affects our holidays, but I feel very sorry for these people and I can't even imagine how the force of the rains did this."
Margaret George, also Scottish, but with a house in Albufeira, where she has been on vacation for over 20 years, watched everything from a terrace at Largo Engenheiro Duarte Pacheco. «We saw the sand and the water coming, everything down there, it was around one-thirty. I've never seen anything like it. We met these people, they had a good summer and now this…», he regrets.
Living those moments up close, Margaret George and her husband felt "afraid". «We thought that the water would not stop and that it would reach where we were».
Many dozens of commercial establishments were destroyed by the force of the waters, but the city of Albufeira responded with hundreds of arms ready to help. It wasn't just the firefighters, municipal employees and the owners and workers of the stores and terraces who set to work. Friends, neighbors, customers wanted to contribute, with work, to those who lost much of what they had built over the years.
This is the case of John McCabe, a Brit who, before the scene, did not join the many mirons who, from the top of the viewpoint of Praia dos Pescadores, watched the cleaning work.
“I came to help, I know these people. I have a home here and I get annoyed with those stupid people over there [points to the viewpoint] taking pictures. I have been coming here for many years, when I arrive they say “welcome home Mr. McCabe” and I have never seen anything like this, everything destroyed. Yesterday when I saw this, I went down here and I had water up to my knees», he says.
Like Sul Informação reported yesterday, there were those who had to be rescued by firefighters. At the Marmota café, the water reached two meters high and the owner José Vieira was in the company of an employee until the last moment. When he could do nothing, and the water continued to rise, he had to be rescued by firefighters and the GNR.
«We were here and we were held back, we had to climb and, at that time, the firefighters were already here and we were pulled by them», he recalls.
Regarding the damage to his commercial space, José Vieira still doesn't have an idea, but he says that “it was all with the water: windows, doors… the water passed here and took everything away. All electrical equipment, refrigerators, televisions, everything needed to have a space like this working was destroyed. There are a few bottles left. We have had other floods here, but never at this level. I think there was something that was done that caused this, it wasn't just the rainwater, maybe the Polis works… I know it was a very strong current».
Alda Bacalhau also saw the force of the water destroy the shoe and accessories store on Avenida 25 de Abril. With tears in his eyes, he told the Sul Informação that “many thousands of euros were lost, I have no idea. I lost everything, it was a total loss, the furniture, electronic material, shoes… even those that were on the top shelves and survived, cannot be sold, because the pairs were in the storeroom, which was flooded».
The rarity of such a situation in Albufeira is also reinforced by Alda Bacalhau: «I've had the store here since 2007, but nobody remembers something like this. There was once water entered the store, but none of this. I've heard it said that something like this, only 70 years ago».
When the Minister of Internal Administration visited Albufeira, after lunchtime, it was with this scenario that he came across. João Calvão da Silva praised the movement of volunteers created to respond to "Nature's fury", and said that traders who do not have insurance, "learn, first of all, that it is good to always reserve a little bit so that, in the future, insurance ».
Despite the destruction scenario, the environment during cleanings, in some spaces, could be much heavier under the circumstances. However, the Sul Informação found that there were merchants who told a joke and who worked with a smile, more or less forced. Perhaps these were just merchants who did not have to learn “the life lesson” – words of Calvão da Silva – that it is safer to have insurance.
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