In Ribeira Brava, Ponta do Sol, Calheta, São Vicente, as well as Funchal and Santa Cruz, dozens of incidents occurred overnight due to the passage of a rain front, but above all, strong winds, described as ‘cyclonic’ by IPMA records, which took place around 3:00 am this morning.
Thus, in Ribeira Brava and Ponta do Sol, in addition to the power outages that lasted for some time but have now been largely restored, the Volunteer Firefighters suffered damage to their own fire station, with broken windows and water inside.
But emergency teams had to respond to calls for help regarding water entering houses, roof tiles lifted and/or broken due to the wind and fallen tree branches, clearing roads, among other situations throughout the night. However, no personal losses have been reported so far. There is damage to vehicles.
In Calheta, the Volunteer Firefighters were also called to clear roads after trees fell, resulting in the closure of the Via Expresso in the Raposeira area, as well as the Regional Road 222.
In Porto Moniz, especially, but also in São Vicente, volunteer firefighters primarily responded to fallen trees on the regional road and light poles that had been pulled over onto the road.
In Santa Cruz, there were many incidents, and as you saw in the news above, that’s where the strongest gust of wind was recorded.
In Funchal, both the Firefighters and the Volunteer Firefighters of Madeira responded to several situations, almost all related to fallen trees or branches. The Volunteer Firefighters of Madeira were called at 3:45 am, 4:00 am, 5:00 am and 6:00 am to cut down trees on Rua da Carreira, Avenida Arriaga, Rua Conde Canavial and Estrada do Curral dos Romeiros.
This is a very rough overview and will require a more detailed update, something that DIÁRIO NOTÍCIAS will try to provide throughout the day.