The Albufeira flooding last November 1st wiped out many downtown businesses and caused €20 million of damage to private and council property.
The reason for the channelling of so much fast-moving flood water through the town centre was the inept flood defence project put in place by the former mayor Desidério Silva who later moved on seamlessly to run the region’s tourist board.
Silva chose to ignore the advice of the regional hydrographical service and carried on regardless, wasting millions of ratepayers’ euros in a scheme that served to make the flooding worse and more focused on the town centre.
A series of gormless politicians from Lisbon visited the devastation to be photographed in wellington boots and promised reconstruction and emergency funds which finally were authorised four months later in March 2016.
Paulo Lemos, the then Secretary of State for the Environment, said that the government was working with the local authority in developing a flood prevention plan and Albufeira 'is likely to be classified as a flood risk zone.'
"Right now, given everything that has happened in recent days, Albufeira will be considered as a flood risk zone," said Lemos at the time, with rare insight after a meeting with the mayor and the president of the Portuguese Environment Agency, among others.
The ‘emergency funds’ turned out to be lines of credit totalling €7.5 million with terms and conditions attached and were too late to pay for any emergency work which the locals already had completed with the help of the council and volunteers.
The local council was put in charge of handing the credit lines but such were the terms and conditions that only €1 million has been authorised for those in need.
There were no lack of requests for financial help but most of the requests were refused by the inevitable committee set up by the government to assess applications.
The council now washes its hands of the responsibility for the refusal of grants, "The role of the municipality is one of support and not of decision-making," says mayor Carlos Silva e Sousa, adding that the council has done everything possible for those whose lives were affected by the flooding.
The government says it created a €3.5 million line of credit for businesses plus another €4 million to support tourism, of which €3 million, rather bizarrely, was for the Portuguse Tourist Board to decide on.
Of the €20 million of damage done to shops, cars and homes, insurers covered an estimated €15.5 million.
As for an effective flood defence system "The completion of the work will not be before 2020," said mayor Carlos Silva e Sousa, leaving several rainy seasons to be dealt with using the curent, deeply flawed system authorised by former mayor Desidério Silva who ignored expert advice with devastating results.
