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Taking into account lives and losses is what many residents of the Ponta Delgada parish are doing this morning of the First Eighth, a day that used to be a holiday in that town in the municipality of São Vicente.
But the heavy rains that fell throughout the day yesterday brought a trail of destruction that left some homes in poor condition. It was in one of those houses affected by the storm that DIÁRIO found Miguel Freitas. The Chairman of the Board emphasizes that, for now, “what we can do at this time is to give some comfort”, in addition to waiting for the water level to drop and allowing cleaning actions to continue.
Even so, at this moment, many people are already on the ground, doing everything possible to restore some normalcy, both in the circulation of cars and in cleaning houses. The mayor highlights the availability of many people, volunteers and other local authorities in the Region, specifically the Parish Councils and Town Halls.
The works of Via Expresso may have aggravated the situation
“Everything that I can do as president and personally, I will do it, I will not hesitate for a second.” This is how Miguel Freitas reacted to the wake of destruction left by yesterday’s floods in a house in the lower part of the Ponta Delgada parish.
His neighbors were outraged because, on several occasions, they had alerted the authorities of the danger posed by the situation, asking that the normal course of the water line that had been intervened be reestablished, which is the cause indicated as the origin. Of the destruction they now face
The president of the Board says that an intervention was made at the beginning of his first term, but it was not enough, since it is an area that receives a lot of water, particularly from the Buenaventura sides. Miguel Freitas spoke of the need for deeper works in the construction of the Via Expresso roundabout, something that will not have been done.
“I think that the intervention to be carried out should have taken place before some works that were carried out recently, especially in the construction of the roundabout [da Via Expresso]I think this situation should have been taken into account. At that time we managed to increase the diameter [do ribeiro] and there we created a water reception area, but obviously the amount of water that fell yesterday was an abnormal situation ”.
Al DIARIO, the mayor says that this was one of the houses most affected, although he also denounced the destruction of a vacation home, on the Lameiros estate, a place still inaccessible, but where “the situation is quite complicated.”
Several neighbors with whom our report spoke claim responsibility and do not stop evoking ‘guilt’ of politicians in their complaints and lamentations.
Criticisms of unfulfilled alerts
Regarding the performance of the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), the president of the Board says that he believes in the professionalism of people, but “two very serious errors such as those that happened on February 20 and yesterday in the models of foresight, I honestly begin to doubt what models will these be. A yellow alert makes no sense, it is better to sin by excess than by default ”.
In addition, the fact that the local government is not alerted to situations like the one that affected this parish in the north of Madeira yesterday is questioned. “Why do we, the mayors, hardly receive notifications or alerts?” He asks about the bad weather warnings from IPMA and Civil Protection.
“I prefer to have a team ready to be on the ground and help, obviously we are not going to solve all the problems, but maybe we could have done something.” Among this preventive action, for example, it refers to the closing of some roads, the placement of a pile of sand or other structures to make a dike, diverting the water towards safer roads. That list also includes digging some trenches or having heavy machinery ready to intervene. “It started to rain on the 24th, at 11:20 pm, and it only stopped today at 6 am, if someone had told us that the forecast was 20 hours of periods of heavy rain. You could have an alert team. But it took us by surprise ”.
Mobilizing the media was not an easy task. “Besides being a day like yesterday, December 25. It took us by surprise by doubling, because obviously people were with their families and suddenly having to activate the media, logistically it was difficult.
Regarding Miguel Freitas’ request for help yesterday “For those who think that my request for help yesterday was a bit alarmist, here is the answer. See what’s going on here, and not wanting to fuel any more controversy, I think people deserve to know the truth. And the truth is that we went through an anguishing and complicated situation ”.
The rain that continues to fall, even with less intensity, continues to hinder the work.
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