Carlos Luís Tavares told the Lusa news agency that the Aguieira dam is discharging and, therefore, while the pressure on the Mondego River does not decrease and with all the water that is going to the agricultural fields, the biggest concern is the municipality of Montemor-o-Velho and the town of Ereira, which has been isolated for some days in this municipality.

“But we also remain concerned about the right and left banks [of the Mondego River, between Coimbra and Montemor-o-Velho], because we are not free from the possibility of the dikes bursting. People have to remain very attentive,” he appealed.

Civil Protection reported today that a set of barriers is being reinforced on the Velho River in Montemor-o-Velho and that it is monitoring the situation on the Mondego River at maximum alert.

The national commander of Civil Protection, Mário Silvestre, said, in a press conference, that the Old River [of the Mondego] “is being reinforced with a set of barriers so that, if there is a problem in that river, there is no compromise to the population of Montemor-o-Velho”.

The right bank of the main channel of the Mondego River broke this morning and is channelling water to the irrigation canal in front of the Formoselha Wastewater Treatment Plant (Montemor-o-Velho), said the president of the Santo Varão Parish Council.

Marcelo Gustavo, mayor of the municipality of Montemor-o-Velho, explained to the Lusa news agency that this irrigation canal, which is now under pressure from more water from the Mondego River, also broke a few meters further downstream, between Formoselha (Montemor-o-Velho) and Granja do Ulmeiro (in Soure), and is distributing water to the agricultural fields on the right bank, which are already overloaded with water.

This irrigation canal, which is adjacent to the riverbank and lies between it and the agricultural fields, serves the farmers, the pulp mills in Figueira da Foz, and also supplies water to that latter municipality on the coast of the Coimbra district.