Waves have damaged Portimão Marina, Carvoeiro, Ferragudo and Armaçao de Pêra as the combination of a heavy southerly swell and high tides has destroyed the pool, a café, and beach facilities at the Marina de Portimao and many businesses located on or near beaches across the Algarve.
In Praia do Carvoeiro waves caused damage to various restaurants as water and rocks swept in by the sea destroyed windows and equipment.
Restaurants on the quayside in Ferragudo suffered damage and in Armaçao de Pêra restaurants, bars and beach facilities have been inundated with sand and water that swept across the fishermen’s beach area damaging low-lying buildings and walkways. Streets filled with sea water and many buildings were flooded.
All of Portugal’s coastline was under red alert yesterday due to the strong seas and high tide but today the status was downgraded as the wave height gradually decreased to between 4 and 5 metres.
The president of the Portuguese Association of Beach Concessionaires, João Carreira, today said he will ask the government for help to repair the damage caused by bad weather to beach facilities in coastal areas throughout the country.
"The damage caused by the high seas of recent days caused millions of euros in losses at beach facilities all over the country, so we decided to ask for a meeting as a matter of urgency with the Minister of the Environment and the Secretary of State for Tourism" said Carreira who did not say how many of his members are insured against such acts of nature, if any.
“We need access to credit to help restore the equipment that has been destroyed by the sea, because otherwise there will be many entrepreneurs who will not have the financial ability to reopen, thus jeopardising the facilities at beaches in many areas of country," said Carreira on behalf of his members, many of whom have spent large amounts recently to accord with the national ‘Plan for the Coastal Zone.’
João Carreira acknowledged that there he still has no estimate for the financial cost to his members, but noted that one of his member’s restaurants alone has suffered "more than a million euros of damage."
The swell and high tides has affected the country’s coastline from north to south, including downtown Lisbon as well as the Algarve where locals are hard pressed to recall worse damage from the sea in the past 20 years.
