At least one person died and 28 others were injured, including Spaniards, Portuguese and Britons, as a result of extreme strong wind phenomena in southern Portugal, which on Saturday caused the roof of a restaurant to fall and damage to a camp in Albufeira.
The regional commander of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority in the Algarve, Vitor Vaz Pinto, confirmed in a press conference that two of the injured were in serious condition.
Vaz Pinto also reported that the ages of those infected ranged between 6 and 85 years. The deceased was in a camp in Albufeira.
The President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, through a note published on the presidency’s website, expressed his solidarity with the relatives of the deceased, as a result of Claudia’s depression, this morning in Albufeira. He also wished “a speedy recovery to the injured citizens.”
Two other people died on Thursday in the Seixal area, in the Lisbon metropolitan area, after rain flooded the house they were in.
On Thursday, 32 people were evacuated from their homes due to flooding in the municipalities of Abrantes, Salvatierra de Magos, Seixal and Pombal.
Since Wednesday, the agency has recorded 3,363 weather-related incidents, including floods, falling trees and structures, and landslides.
The storm is expected to continue throughout the weekend, at least until early Monday morning.
Storm Claudia will also bring heavy rain and flooding to the UK and Ireland
Storm Claudia dumped heavy rain on Saturday and caused serious flooding as it passed through the United Kingdom, especially in England and South Wales, as well as in some parts of Ireland.
More than 200 flood risk warnings and alerts are in force, England’s Environment Agency (EA) said in a statement issued shortly before midday on Saturday.
The Environment Agency also reported that currently, around twenty homes have been flooded by Storm Claudia, including some in the Cumbria region (northwest England) that had already suffered flooding due to rain before, while around 12,000 properties were able to be protected with temporary defenses after EA agents intervened.
“We are deeply sorry for the flooding that has occurred in recent days. Although it has only affected a small number of homes, it remains devastating for those affected,” Joe Cuthbertson, EA’s flood transformation manager, said in the memo.
Wales was one of the areas most affected by Storm Claudia, where a “serious accident” was declared in the Monmouth area in the south, and the regional government asked residents to avoid any kind of movement to clear the roads and assist in the work of emergency services.
Laura Anne Jones, a member of the right-wing populist British Reform Party in the Welsh Parliament, added on the social network
He encouraged residents to donate “for those who did not have time to collect their belongings.”
Pictures broadcast by British media and on social media showed cars, homes, and businesses completely submerged in water, in addition to forces crossing the streets to rescue people isolated by the floods.
According to data released on Saturday by the UK Met Office, a rain gauge at Tafalog in Gwent, Wales, recorded an accumulation of 119.6 mm of rain between Thursday afternoon and early Saturday morning, and another gauge in Suckley (central England) recorded 80.6 mm in the same period.
The storm also caused devastation in Ireland, especially in County Wexford, in the southeast of the island, where rain inundated buildings and homes and left more than 3,000 people without power.
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