There have already been 19 landslides on the cliffs of the Barlavento Algarvio since the beginning of the year, he revealed to Sul Informação the regional director of the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA).
Sebastião Teixeira said that, after the 18th, yesterday, on a cliff between Vau and Careanos beaches (Portimão), this Wednesday, APA technicians came across another one, the 19th, in Praia da Galé, Albufeira. The landslides identified are located in the municipalities of Albufeira, Lagoa and Portimão.
The official added that "the monitoring of the cliffs continues to be carried out by our technicians, every day", in this critical period marked by precipitation and strong maritime agitation.
This task, as explained today by the APA in a statement, is usually a "routine" work that the entity does throughout the year, but "the observation campaigns are densified", whenever there are adverse weather conditions, with more rain and storms. at sea, "since the events of the collapse of the cliffs are often triggered during these episodes".
Yesterday, the 6th, as the Sul Informação reported, Sebastião Teixeira flew along the coast between Vila Real de Santo António and Praia da Luz, precisely to assess the state of the cliffs and remaining coastline and to make photographic records.
In its communiqué, the APA reveals that, as "the coastal management authority of the Algarve, it started to observe and record landslides in 1995". «Since 2002, as a routine, annual observation campaigns have been carried out by land, sea (on board a vessel with the Maritime Authority) and air (on board an aircraft)», such as the one that took place yesterday.
That body will maintain the “routine of observation and recording” of the cliffs until May, to define, before the start of the bathing season, whether it is necessary to intervene with machines to stabilize areas that present a high risk of collapse.
The APA adds that, in addition to "interventions aimed at mitigating the risk associated with the geodynamics of the cliffs" and "possible controlled landslides", until the beginning of the bathing season, there will also be "strengthening of signaling" or the "implantation of beacons".
The cliffs, stressed that entity, are "naturally unstable", so people must "avoid staying and/or circulating at their base or top, particularly during these episodes" of storm.
Yesterday, the collapse of the 10 meter high cliff on the coast of Portimão it involved the fall of 200 cubic meters of rock, in other words, around 500 tonnes, being "the largest so far this year". There were no injuries, no damage.
Two days ago, the Maritime Authority had warned of the danger of landslides on the cliffs, especially on the Algarve coast. AM warned the population "to move away from the cliffs and rocky coastal areas affected, avoiding sidewalks, both near the base and on top of these places, and must comply with and respect the signs and indications of the authorities."
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