“There is a clear risk that the dykes could collapse. As a precaution, it is essential to evacuate people who are in the risk areas,” said Pimenta Machado, speaking at a press conference held in Coimbra at the end of an emergency meeting with local mayors and local and regional civil protection authorities.

According to the APA president, “brutal” rainfall is forecast for 11 February, with “two days of rainfall equivalent to 20% of the annual rainfall”, adding that the situation will be monitored.

“Basically, we need to understand whether we have conditions here at the Coimbra dam that will never exceed two thousand cubic metres per second [m3/s], which is the value for which the dikes were designed”.

Pimenta Machado pointed out that, at this moment, “a lot of water has gone into the Ceira River, the Ribeira de Mortágua, the Mondego, and the Dão River”.

“It's impressive,” he noted, considering that this is a “truly exceptional” situation, with high rainfall levels after “three weeks of successive storms that are putting pressure on the infrastructure.”

For the APA president, the situation is “is very complex and difficult,” and it is essential to take preventive action and relocate populations from flood-prone areas.

According to Pimenta Machado, there is still some “slack” in the Aguieira dam upstream of the Coimbra weir bridge, noting that preparatory work had been done previously.