By Alyssa McMurtry
OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - A section of Portugal’s main north-south highway will remain closed for weeks after floodwaters collapsed part of the A1 motorway near Coimbra, authorities said on Thursday.
The collapse of part of Portugal’s main road link between Lisbon and Porto occurred Wednesday night after a levee on the Mondego River broke.
Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said repairs could take several weeks and cannot begin until river levels drop. He described the speed and force of the floodwaters as “absolutely abnormal.”
No casualties were reported in the collapse, as the area is largely agricultural and had already been evacuated. Around 3,000 people in Coimbra were forced to leave their homes.
However, concern continues as the upstream Aguieira dam is above 99% of its storage capacity, near its maximum flood level, increasing concern in the Mondego basin as more heavy rain is forecast.
Prime Minister Luis Montenegro visited Coimbra on Wednesday, saying authorities were “at the limit of our capacity to contain these waters.”
The government has declared a state of calamity in nearly 70 municipalities affected by the storms, which have also caused landslides, flooded towns, damaged electricity infrastructure, and disrupted rail lines and roads across the country.
Since a string of storms began to batter Portugal in recent weeks, at least 16 people have died in incidents linked to the severe weather, according to Portuguese daily Jornal de Noticias.
The handling of the storms has also had political fallout in Portugal.
On Tuesday, Interior Minister Maria Lucia Amaral resigned, facing criticism over the government response to the flooding, saying she did not have the “personal and political conditions necessary.”
Mario Silvestre, national commander of Civil Protection, has warned people in Lisbon, the Setubal Peninsula, the Oeste region and Leziria do Tejo of the possibility of more flash floods.
“It’s another night of constant alert,” he said, as more heavy rainfall is expected Thursday afternoon.
He added that the situation on the Mondego River has put authorities on “maximum alert,” and also warned of flooding on the Tagus and Sado rivers.