Cars immobilised in the water, with residents and businesses trying bail out the water.
Rua de Angola, in the extreme north of the city, Avenida dos Bombeiros, next to the municipal market, and a good part of the historic centre had water above the level of the pavements.
Some of the main arteries in the urban perimeter had to be cut off to traffic to avoid circulation in the flooded areas, due to the heavy rain registered between 06:00 and 08:30, which left a large part of the city impassable.
Speaking to Lusa, a source from the District Command for Relief Operations (CDOS) in Faro said that at 07:00 the meteorological station of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) recorded, in one hour, 42.1 millimetres of precipitation in the City.
According to the same source, the urban area of Vila Real de Santo António was the most affected area – together with the localities of Altura and Monte Gordo -, with 41 occurrences having been recorded due to the episode of “intense and localised rainfall”.
“When there is surface flooding, which only happened on municipal roads, with no national roads affected, water ends up entering some buildings. But, in general, they are small floods”, he explained.
"It rained a lot, there was a lot of thunder, but this is also the case because of the rubbish on the ground that clogged the gutters," said Lusa Luís Castro, a resident of one of the affected areas.
Such a small country and region yet so unable to keep it clean! Streets are full of litter and dog poo, public places are filthy. What will it take to keep it all clean? Those fires are also the result of zero management. Other countries in Europe manage to keep their countries clean - why can't Portugal? Must it continue being the dumpster of the EU forever?
By k from Algarve on 23 Sep 2021, 12:02
Dog filth everwhere in my town despite there being a fine of up to 100€ , but nobody to police it!
By Anna from Other on 23 Sep 2021, 12:39
I absolutely DO NOT agree. Portugal is clean and the people are disciplined. Where I lived before for 16 years in Trinidad and Tobago could be considered a garbage dump. It is unbelievable. I have seen the garbage trucks in action here and the diligence of people of all ages disposing of their garbage properly. Algarve is full of 'foreign' maybe they are not as consciencious!
By Diana from Beiras on 23 Sep 2021, 16:20
There have been no littering in the Algarve that I have seen during the winters I've spent there, but maybe there is some of that in the summer tourism season and during this "pandemic" frenzy also. Hope all the mask use is eliminated soon too, all it does is add to the amount of litter everywhere around the world.
By K. Lehto from Other on 24 Sep 2021, 09:58
Try Antwerp Belgium! Compared to the filth in the streets there, Portugal is very clean indeed - just a shame about the plastic littering
By Mimi from Beiras on 24 Sep 2021, 14:42
@ Diana & K Letho;
Where I live, outside towns and cities, along roads and in secluded areas there is a lot of illegal dumping going on. In a country where waste containers for plastic, glas and paper are hard to miss, it is hard to understand why plastic and glass are still being dumped so easily in nature.
On top of that and a lot harder to clean up is the dumping of full lorry loads with building materials, concrete, tires, plaster and even old fridges. I would think that bringing it to a container park would be just as hard as seeking a place to dump it in nature. Clearly I am mistaken.
By H from Algarve on 25 Sep 2021, 09:43