Government declares state of calamity in areas most affected by storm Kristin

The government has decided to declare a “state of calamity in the areas most affected by storm Kristin”, according to an official statement from the Prime Minister’s office sent to newsrooms on Thursday.

“Following a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the Prime Minister’s official residence, which is still ongoing, we can confirm that it has been decided to declare a state of calamity in the areas most affected by Storm Kristin”, the statement reads.

Also according to the statement from the Council of Ministers, Luís Montenegro has decided to cancel his foreign agenda for the coming days, namely trips to Andorra and Croatia, in order to visit the areas affected by storm Kristin in the districts of Leiria and Coimbra.

The head of the Executive had planned to visit Andorra on Thursday, where he was to inaugurate Portugal’s new consulate-general in the principality. A meeting with Andorra’s Prime Minister, Xavier Espot Zamora, was also planned. The agenda was cancelled so that the Prime Minister could visit the areas most affected by the storm.

The Kristin depression, which has been sweeping across the country since Wednesday, has already caused six deaths. Between midnight and 8 a.m., more than 190 incidents were reported. At that time, nearly 450,000 households were still without electricity. By 10 p.m. on Wednesday, 5,400 incidents related to the storm had been reported.

The most affected regions are Leiria and Oeste, as well as the districts of Coimbra, Santarém and Lisbon. Most incidents are related to fallen trees and structures and the closure or disruption of roads and railway lines. There are also reports of power, water and telecommunications outages.

Civil Protection is on special alert level 4, the maximum, along the entire coastline between Viana do Castelo and Setúbal.