Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the sub-regional commander of Emergency and Civil Protection for Alentejo Litoral, Tiago Bugio, explained that “at 5.30pm it was low tide, but the river was already overflowing its banks”.

“Avenida dos Aviadores was flooded again this morning and, from high tide to low tide, there was no decrease in the river level; on the contrary, the level even increased,” he emphasised.

The commander said that “everything on the waterfront is also flooded”, so “it was decided to evacuate this part of the city due to the high tide, which will be at 00:00 on Thursday”.

For Tiago Bugio, the conditions are in place for “a phenomenon similar to last Friday’s, when the flooding was greater and reached a higher height”.

Over the last few days, as the water receded in the downtown area, the clean-up work began and “some people who had been evacuated, as a precaution, returned to their homes”, he recalled.

Now, with the evacuation order, “there is no need to remove anyone” from the ground floors, which are mainly occupied by “shops, banks, restaurants and other businesses”.

"People live on the upper floors of the buildings. They’ve been warned, but so far no one has wanted to leave,” he told Lusa, emphasising that “no one has asked the authorities for support” to leave their homes, although he admitted that “if anyone has left, they’ve gone to relatives' homes".

The clean-up work has since been interrupted, he added, and the authorities are on site monitoring the situation, particularly the rise in the level of the Sado.

“The outlook is somewhat pessimistic for the next morning, because we think the flood will increase,” he estimated.

Currently, added the sub-regional commander, “there are seven dams discharging into the river Sado”, specifically the Vale de Gaio, Pego do Altar, Odivelas, Campilhas, Alvito, Fonte Serne and Roxo dams.