Latest news and stories about emergency services in infrastructure in Leiria, Portugal for expats and residents.
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The IC9 was closed for several hours in the east-west direction, where the accident occurred.
The IC9 was closed for several hours in the east-west direction, where the accident occurred.
The faces of those who held the country together. During the month that devastated Portugal, some worked non-stop to restore normality to the country. In Nuno's case, this meant rebuilding one of Leiria's main electrical arteries in record time.
Gonçalo Lopes responds to criticism from Defence Minister Nuno Melo, stating he wants “unity and resources to rebuild the municipality” and thanking the Armed Forces for their “exemplary work.”
Gonçalo Lopes stated that, since January 28, the municipality has set up a “gigantic operation,” explaining that “all aid that arrived” was integrated into the 700-person response team.
The Mayor of Leiria, Gonçalo Lopes, refuses to discuss phone calls with the Minister of Defence and highlights the municipality's coordination with the Armed Forces and other entities during the passage of storms Kristin, Leonardo, and Marta, ensuring support for the affected population.
One million customers were left without power. There are still dozens of people in the dark.
Gonçalo Lopes, the mayor of Leiria, discussed the extensive damage caused by Storm Kristin in a recent interview with CNN Portugal, highlighting the municipality's emergency response and recovery efforts over the past ten days.
There are still 74,000 customers (households and businesses) without power in the Central region. Over 49,000 customers are from the Leiria area, 18,000 from Santarém, 5,000 from Castelo Branco, and 2,000 from Coimbra.
The rising waters of the Lena River in Ponte das Mestras, Leiria, are flooding garages and endangering new residential areas. CNN Portugal reporter Pedro Ramos Bichardo speaks to residents who are trying to contain the water with sand barriers, while Civil Protection monitors the flow's evolution.
From Ponte das Mestras, Leiria, journalist Pedro Ramos Bichardo reports on the damage caused by the rain in recent hours.
Delfim, 74, told CMTV that he thought he was going to be left homeless on the night the storm devastated the country.
News item at 16:00 about a village in the Batalha municipality that has been left without electricity.
Civil Protection has warned residents of Pedrógão Grande about the danger of electrocution following damage to the local electricity network; people are advised to avoid downed power lines and damaged electrical equipment until repairs are completed.
The Pedrógão Grande Civil Protection service, in the Leiria district, warned residents today about the risk of electrocution from fallen poles and power cables that remain live in areas affected by depression Kristin.
The municipal service advises: “Never touch fallen or damaged electrical cables” and “keep your distance from poles, cables or suspicious structures”.
The president of Alvaiázere's Municipal Chamber, João Paulo Guerreiro, assesses the situation in his municipality, which he described as severely “devastated” by the passage of storm Kristin. According to the mayor, “it will be difficult to restore the entirety of the electricity supply”, at a time when, more than a week after the storm, only 60% of customers already have electricity — a situation that also looks pessimistic regarding communications, as was evident during the interview with CNN.
The mayor said that in that municipality in the Leiria district there are still many houses with missing roofs and numerous housing problems, alongside a huge shortage of labour.
Communications were only restored in the city centre.
Help requests continue to arrive at the decision room for the Leiria Region.
Satellite images from April 2025, compared with those from January this year after the passage of Storm Kristin, show flooded farmland and residential areas.
He was born and raised in Leiria and, after a period studying at university in Lisbon, returned to the city where he was born. Married and father of two, he worked as an economist and in the tourism, agriculture and insurance sectors before officially entering politics. Following the storm that devastated Leiria, he has moved heaven and earth to mitigate its effects and help the city recover.
Repairs will cost around €60,000. In four days, almost €53,000 has already been raised.
A failure of the SIRESP emergency communications network in Leiria left the PSP without normal communications for about a day and a half, forcing improvised procedures and contingency measures. Authorities advised that, where travel was necessary, walking was preferable to driving but staying home if possible was best; the bulletin also warns of fraudulent technicians exploiting the outage and urges verification of any service personnel and vigilance for scams.
