The Portuguese authorities issued a red alert on Thursday February 5 over the risk of flooding of the Tagus River in the Santarém region, due to persistent rains caused by the Leonardo depression on part of the Iberian Peninsula.
The risk of flooding “has moved to the red level” for the district of Santarém, a spokesperson for the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority told Agence France-Presse (AFP), while the municipal authorities of the municipality of Santarém ordered the“mandatory evacuation” riparian areas within seven hours.
“We have not experienced such a situation in the Tagus basin since 1997”underlined during a press conference the national commander of civil protection, Mario Silvestre.
A municipality in southern Portugal, among the most affected in the Iberian country by the flooding caused by storm Leonardo, has announced its intention to postpone by one week the vote in the second round of the presidential election on Sunday, mayor Clarisse Campos reported to the national news agency Lusa.
During a trip there Thursday morning, outgoing President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa raised the possibility for municipal authorities hit by the bad weather in recent days to postpone the vote, specifying that this decision is theirs, and not the government or other national authority.
The second round of the presidential election pits a moderate socialist candidate, Antonio José Seguro, against the leader of the Portuguese far right, André Ventura, who came in first and second positions, respectively, during the first round held on January 18.
The Iberian Peninsula is still facing the consequences of the Leonardo depression and its exceptional rainsbetween significant flooding and thousands of evacuations in the south of Spain, and red alert for the risk of flooding of the Tagus in central Portugal. One person died in Portugal and a woman, who fell into a river, is missing in Andalusia, in the south of Spain, according to official reports.
Sixth storm since early 2026
In Alcacer do Sal, about a hundred kilometers south of Lisbon, the Sado river burst its banks, AFP journalists noted on Thursday, flooding the streets of the city center and forcing nearly a hundred residents to be evacuated. “It’s impressive! »reacted on the spot Thursday morning the Portuguese president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.
The city’s mayor, Clarisse Campos, said “not having the memory” to have already seen such a storm in his town of 11,000 inhabitants. A week after the devastating passage of Storm Kristin, which left five people dead in the country, 76,000 customers still remain without electricity in the country.
Portugal, where the second round of the presidential election is being held on Sunday, experienced its second wettest January since 2000, according to the national meteorological agency, IPMA.
The Iberian Peninsula is on the front line of climate change in Europe and has, for several years, been experiencing increasingly long heat waves and increasingly frequent and intense episodes of heavy rain. Storm Leonardo is the sixth of its kind since the start of 2026, in just over a month, according to the Spanish meteorological agency, Aemet.
