Storm Leonardo Eases in Andalusia as Portugal Issues Red Flood Alert for Tagus

Overview

• Portuguese authorities raised the Tagus basin in Santarém to a red flood alert and ordered mandatory riverside evacuations, with officials calling it the most serious situation there since 1997.
• Spain’s Aemet downgraded Andalusia’s rainfall alerts to orange, yet rail service and many roads remain largely halted and a search continues for a woman swept into a river near Sayalonga.
• At least one person died in Portugal after being carried away by floodwaters near Serpa, and divers and boats rescued residents in Alcácer do Sal as the Sado River inundated the city center.
• Andalusia carried out roughly 3,000 to 3,500 preventive evacuations, shut most schools, and deployed UME troops after what forecasters called extraordinary downpours on saturated soils.
• Portugal’s election authority rejected a nationwide delay of Sunday’s presidential runoff, allowing only local postponements as requested by Alcácer do Sal, with about 76,000 customers still without power after recent storms.