Violent weather brought on by Storm Claudia killed three people and injured dozens in Portugal, authorities said yesterday, while in Britain rescue workers were organising evacuations due to heavy flooding in Wales and England.
Portugal and parts of neighbouring Spain have faced days of extreme conditions brought on by Storm Claudia, which had reached parts of Britain and Ireland by Saturday.
Rescue workers found the bodies of an elderly couple inside their flooded home in Fernao Ferro, across the River Tagus from Lisbon, on Thursday. They had apparently been sleeping and were unable to flee as the water rose during the night.
Yesterday, a tornado struck Albufeira in southern Portugal, emergency services said.
Footage shot from a distance that was posted online showed the tornado damaging and destroying caravans at a camping area, where regional civil protection commander Vitor Vaz Pinto said an 85-year-old British woman was killed.
Twenty-eight people were injured at a nearby hotel, he said, adding that two of them were in hospital with serious injuries.
In a statement yesterday, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed “his solidarity with the family of the victim who died” in Albufeira and wished a speedy recovery to those injured.
In Britain, severe flooding hit the town of Monmouth and surrounding areas in southeastern Wales yesterday.
South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said it was conducting rescues, evacuations, and welfare checks.
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