The tornado, one of two which hit the Algarve over this past weekend, swept through the municipality of Albufeira on Saturday morning, causing one fatality of a person who had initially been reported missing at a local campsite, the Civil Protection Authority has confirmed.
“The fatal victim was the individual who had initially been reported missing. She was found in cardiorespiratory arrest and, unfortunately, did not survive,” a source from the Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command revealed, adding that no further details about the person were immediately available.
According to Rui Cristina, Mayor of Albufeira, the victim was an 86-year-old British woman.
“I visited the worst-affected areas today, including the campsite, where the scene is truly devastating. There are several injured and one fatality, an 86-year-old British national. On behalf of myself and the Municipality, I extend my deepest condolences to her family and friends,” the mayor wrote on his social media accounts.
This is the third fatality in Portugal linked to Storm Cláudia, following the deaths of an octogenarian couple in Fernão Ferro, which occurred earlier last week.
At the campsite alone, the number of injured has risen to four with minor injuries and one seriously hurt. At the Eden Resort hotel, also struck by the extreme wind event, 19 people were injured, one of them seriously, Civil Protection confirmed.
“We are working with all municipal resources and civil protection services to support the victims and to restore safety and normality as quickly as possible,” the mayor added.
Over the weekend, the entire Algarve was hit by severe weather, with strong winds and heavy rainfall causing dozens of incidents within mere hours of the intense downpour, for which many Portuguese towns are ill-equipped in terms of infrastructure.
In Estômbar, in the municipality of Lagoa, a second tornado caused damage, felling dozens of trees along the fitness trail and in the picnic area. Lagoa itself also suffered further damage in the tornado's path of destruction, including fallen trees, damage to the roof of the Auchan store, and torn-down fencing.
Meanwhile, in Portimão, flooding was reported in several areas, including the mainland zone, Largo Gil Eanes near the level crossing, and the Municipal Stadium, where water surged from the car park into the main building entrance and changing rooms.
Further details emerged on Sunday regarding those injured by Saturday’s unfathomable ‘extreme wind phenomenon’ at Albufeira’s Hotel Eden Resort and nearby HolaCamp campsite, with IPMA meteorologists officially confirmed that the incident was “clearly a tornado”, despite some initial naysaying amongst the media sources.
Paula Leitão, an official at IPMA, pointed to "a convective cell spinning" on the weather radar, a phenomenon that "sometimes produces tornadoes".
“A tornado does not exist if there is no convective cell spinning at the same time,” she elaborated.
Leitão did not offer insight into other phenomena that took place in Lagoa and Silves around the same time on Saturday morning, but said “it is likely” that they were also tornadoes.
Having said that, newspapers are reporting that the phenomena which cut a path of destruction through the municipalities of Lagoa and Silves, where two residents saw their homes severely damaged and had to be relocated by Municipal Civil Protection, were in fact the result of this second tornado which struck the Algarve that morning as a result of Storm Claudia.
Meteorologist Bruno Gonçalves, who runs the Meteofontes website, explained that this second tornado came ashore at around 11:20am “at the Ferragudo jetty, before sweeping towards the Auchan retail area in Lagoa and the greenhouses in Torrinha”. It then made its way further inland towards Silves.
Gonçalves was inside his car at the time, parked near Praia do Molhe in Ferragudo, trying to photograph the thunderstorm when the tornado hit. Based on what he witnessed, and despite IPMA not yet having officially confirmed the nature of the event, the meteorologist opines that “what passed over me was, without a shadow of doubt, a tornado.”
As for the rarity of these phenomena in the Algarve region, Paula Leitão said there are records dating back to the 19th century of similar occurrences, and when they occur, there is never just one tornado, but multiple.
The HolaCamp campsite in Albufeira has set up a dedicated information line for affected family members and guests.
According to details sent out to the press, the telephone number provided is +00351 289587630 and the email address is geral@campingalbufeira.net.
As of today, Monday 17 November, the victims' identities have not been revealed. It has been reported, however, that the fatal victim in Albufeira, an 85-year-old British national, was found buried in the debris some time after the tornado had passed. Additionally, those in Albufeira who received minor injuries are believed to be six children, aged between two months and seven years old, and adults ranging in age from 24 to 70. Their nationalities are said to be Portuguese, Spanish, French and British.
The national tally of incidents reported to emergency services yesterday totalled over 3,700, 479 of which were in the Algarve, most involving flash floods or fallen debris on roads, or on top of houses and vehicles. Several have been left without a home as a result of the storm, including two locally in Silves, who have been temporarily rehomed by local authorities.
Sources: LUSA/SIC/Portugal Resident/BBC/IPMA
Photo Credit: Duarte Drago
