On the 20th and 21st of December, the rain that fell in the Algarve caused small floods in some urban areas…but little filled the six dams in the region, as well as the effect it had on relieving the drought was minimal.
The National Water Resources Information System (SNIRH) indicates that, after the December rains, there are even two reservoirs in the Algarve where the levels of stored water have dropped. These are the cases of the largest dam in the region, that of Odelouca (in the municipality of Monchique), which, on 31 December, had 52% of its capacity, less than in the previous month of November (53,4%), and the Arade (Silves), which went from 47,2% of stored water to 46,8%.
The SNIRH data also show that none of the Algarve reservoirs has a level that can be considered reassuring. The one with the highest level of stored water is Funcho (Silves), with 66,5%, followed by Odeleite (Castro Marim), with 53,5%, Odelouca (52%), Arade (46,8% ), Beliche (Castro Marim, 45,7%) and finally Bravura (Lagos), with a very low 14,3% (and it even recovered somewhat since November…).
Comparing with the same month of the previous year (2020), in some cases the situation was better, in others not so. Thus, Funcho then accumulated 70,9%, Odelouca had 55,5%, Odeleite 51,3%, Beliche 43,6%, Arade 27,5% and Bravura 21,4%.
If, despite some more urban disturbances, there was little rain in December, this means that the meteorological drought situation in the south of the country has not changed significantly either.
In fact, according to data released on Friday by the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), the entire Algarve remains in a situation of drought, although the area in severe drought has decreased and the areas in moderate or weak drought have increased. , as can be seen in the graphs below, referring to the months of November and December.
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