In a press release, the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MAE) informs that the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) carried out an operation that allowed for the “temporary restoration of the dike's watertightness, preventing the passage of water from the central channel to the adjacent fields”.

This intervention in the Mondego River “will allow for the drainage of the still flooded land and is an indispensable step towards the definitive repair of the dike, the main drainage channel, and the road”.

The APA is also carrying out interventions on the banks of the Lis River, in the municipality of Leiria, which suffered a rupture in the dike on the left bank of the river, under the A17 viaduct, in the parish of Amor, "a situation that caused part of the river's flow to be diverted to the adjacent agricultural fields".

This occurrence was the result of the extreme rainfall recorded on January 26 and 27, associated with depressions Joseph and Kristin that affected the Leiria region.

MAE emphasises that, in the following days, due to the high volume of accumulated water, "two more ruptures were recorded in the same dike, two kilometres downstream from the first occurrence, as well as a small breach in the tributary known as the Amor collector".

According to the supervisory body, the tributary known as the Aroeira collector also "suffered a collapse over an approximate length of 80 meters, causing the flooding of agricultural fields in the Monte Real area".