Hurricane reclassified into a storm Leslie struck Portugal on Sunday morning with winds of 176 km / hour, ripping trees and temporarily depriving hundreds of thousands of people of electricity, before reaching northern Spain. At least 300,000 households have been, or still are, without electricity.
Leslie was reclassified from Category 1 hurricane to storm shortly before landing. The authorities had called the inhabitants to move away from the Atlantic coast, beaten by huge waves.
More than a thousand trees were cut down by high winds, mainly in coastal towns north of the capital, Lisbon, where the storm hit first. Power lines were thrown to the ground and roads blocked by debris, including the A1 highway that runs through the country.
More than 300,000 households remained without electricity Sunday morning, said Belo Costa, a civil protection official. Leslie continues his route through the Iberian Peninsula gradually weakening. It should dissipate Sunday evening or Monday morning, said the Spanish meteorological services. "The greatest danger has passed. The phenomenon has mainly affected the regions of the central and northern coast of the country, " Portuguese Civil Defense Commander Luis Belo Costa told reporters.
1,900 incidents recorded
These storms have caused 27 minor injuries and about sixty people had to be relocated, he said in the early morning, stating that the district of Coimbra (center) was the hardest hit, in front of those of Leiria (center), Aveiro (north), Viseu (north), Lisbon and Porto (north).
In Mealhada, in the Aveiro district, the women's European finals in roller-skating hockey, between Portugal and Spain, had to be stopped two minutes from the end, when part of the Cover of the sports enclosure flew causing the debris falling on the track.
In Figueira da Foz, the main coastal town in the Coimbra region about 200 km north of Lisbon, the population experienced panic. "I had never seen such a thing. The city seemed to be in a state of war, with cars crushed by fallen trees , " said a resident on SIC private television.
Blocked for an hour in a theater
"We were stuck for more than an hour in a theater, without electricity and without a telephone network. People were very worried, " he added. "The situation will quickly return to normal," said the president of the Portuguese Meteorological Institute, Jorge Miranda, while the storm was already in the extreme north of Portugal and continued to progress to Spain losing its intensity.
In total, relief services recorded nearly 1900 incidents, mostly caused by trees torn off, or roofs damaged by the violence of the wind.
Four days after the death of 12 people in the Balearic Islands, the Spanish rescue services warned the population against the risk of flash floods and called on motorists to be cautious. in case of strong winds.