Algarve district of Faro in Portugal placed on red warning for ‘strong and persistent rainfall’

THE district of Faro on Portugal’s Algarve was issued with a red warning this Sunday, October 22, due to the risk of ‘strong and persistent rainfall’.

According to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), the most intense period of rain was expected to last until around 3 pm.

Faro has also been placed under an orange warning due to sea turbulence, with south-easterly waves of up to three or four metres in height expected. Southerly waves of between six and eight metres in height are also predicted, along with gusts of wind that could reach 100 km/h, accompanied by the risk of thunderstorms.

A red warning for rain is only issued when rainfall is forecast to exceed 40 litres/m² in one hour or 60 litres/m² in a six-hour period.

The IPMA has maintained the orange warning for this Sunday in four other districts. These are Évora, Portalegre, Beja and Setúbal, where the experts warned of: ‘rainfall that can be sometimes heavy and may be accompanied by thunderstorms and strong gusts’.

The orange alert remained in place in three other districts

Yellow warnings for rain were also issued by the IPMA for Santarém, Lisbon and Castelo Branco. This colour warning applies in: ‘risk situations for certain activities depending on the meteorological situation’, they explained. The orange warning is issued whenever there is a: ‘moderate to high-risk meteorological situation’, it added, as reported by cmjornal.pt.

At the time of writing, the rain has finally stopped on the Algarve, and the sun is out, but until around 4 pm there had been a torrential downpour for many hours along with a dark sky.

Jack Carvalho, who lives in an apartment in the resort of Albufeira told me: ‘The rain was non-stop this afternoon, at one point we couldn’t even see out of the windows. I can see the beach from our lounge and the sea looked incredibly rough’.