The rain and strong winds of last night as a result of Storm Leslie has left thousands of homes without power. It is accepted this was an extraordinary weather event. The distribution grid was severely affected in the coastal and northern areas of the country, with about 200 High/Medium Voltage lines being cut. At this point, the areas of most concern are in the region within a 70km radius of Coimbra.
At 6pm yesterday EDP Distribuição declared a state of alert according to the Operational Plan for Crisis Action, which was later upgraded to a state of disruption, the second-most serious, from 11.30pm in the regions north of the Tagus.
The adverse conditions being experienced, such as cut roads, fallen trees and the heavy winds, are making it difficult to carry out operations. More than 500 operations continued into the early hours of the morning and are continuing in order to restore power. Teams from the south, where the situation was brought under control early last night, have now been sent to join teams in the north.
While part of the grid has been restored, given the scale of the damage encountered, it is expected that the situation will improve slowly over the coming days. Temporary solutions will be adopted, with emergency generators being provided in the most urgent cases.
As Portuguese consumers are aware, EDP Distribuição is fully committed and is making every effort to restore normal power supply services as soon as possible. It remains in close contact with the civil protection agencies, local authorities and with the IPMA, which is providing up-to-date weather information.
