The mayor of Leiria, Gonçalo Lopes, regards the measures announced by the Government as positive, but stresses they will only be effective if they are “minimally bureaucratic and very prompt”. He warns about the scale of the damage — with thousands of homes and tens of thousands of cars affected — and insists that “people need help now”.
Leiria: "The essential thing is that support should be minimally bureaucratic and very prompt"
Sunday, 1 February 2026RSS
Context & Explainers
Local accommodation (alojamento local) means short-term tourist rentals—private apartments, houses or rooms rented for days or weeks—that must be registered and licensed with municipal authorities. Municipalities can suspend or cancel licences (Lisbon cancelled about 6,700 licences in early 2026), so travellers and hosts should check a listing's registration and local rules before booking or offering stays.
