Luís Montenegro visits areas hit by Storm Kristin: Government assesses damage and to start recovery

The Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro began a series of visits to the regions most hit by storm Kristin in the centre of Leiria, one of the most affected councils. The visits are to ascertain the impacts of the storm that hit the country overnight from 27 to 28 January. After a stint with the Mayor Gonçalo Lopes, the Prime Minister claimed he now has "better awareness of the difficulties many families and fellow citizens are facing due to the lack of communications with anyone"

He recalled that "from the first moment, whether in the preventive acts prior to the event or during the storm, as well as immediately following it", "all our capabilities" were deployed "whether in the public, private or social spheres, allocat4ed to the area where the impacts were most significant to help with the most urgent situations and resume normality, namely for what is most important", he said, stressing that "water, electricity supply and essential infrastructure" are the priority, "starting in key areas such as healthcare, as well as education and all the economic activities that suffered and are suffering the impact".

The Head of Government then travelled to Ansião, where he met with the Mayor and spoke with the operatives working to resume normality in the council.

Luís Montenegro also visited several sites hit by the storm in Coimbra with councillor Ana Abrunhosa, such as the airfield and the bus station. The Prime Minister also witnessed the rise of the Mondego River, which proves that bad weather and its consequences warrant the attention of the Portuguese people in the coming days.

The Council of Ministers decided to declare a disaster situation on Thursday money in all the areas hit by storm Kristin, a measure which Luís Montenegro admits does not raise any deployment of resources and means available "because that was already taking place." Now, "we are starting to design the mechanisms to place the recovery works on the ground in a quicker, less bureaucratic, and more expeditious manner".

In addition to Leiria, Ansião and Coimbra, "there are dozens of municipalities that have fulfilled their task of working closely with the population in collaborati9on with the public entities and the Government. We cannot be everywhere today, but we do have many members of the Government on the ground, deployed so they can assess the damage", the Prime Minister added.

Luís Montenegro thanked the way in which the Portuguese people "in a very tranquil, serene and solidary way" have faced this extreme weather event. "The Portuguese people are, in fact, special", he concluded.

"When some of us have a more direct experience with this tragic reality, all the others are readily available, whether supplying generators for electricity, professionals who hit the streets to remove felled trees, to build roofs that are indispensable for people’s safety, and the interaction among officers. Because the spirit of solidarity was and still is very much alive".