"Last night was calmer. We registered 39 occurrences at a national level, but the majority in Greater Porto and Coimbra due to the rain", José Rodrigues, from ANEPC, told Lusa.

According to José Rodrigues, since the state of alert was declared at 11:00 pm on Friday and at 7:30 am today, 789 occurrences were recorded due to heavy rain, which involved the commitment of 2,610 personnel, with the support of 1,029 means.

"Of the 789 occurrences, 251 were registered in the Porto Metropolitan Area and 162 in Coimbra", said the ANEPC commander.

The occurrences were related to the fall of trees, structures, floods, road cleaning and mass movement.

"Now we are going to pay attention to the riverbeds, especially in the Mondego and Douro areas to prevent possible flooding. We are going to have a high tide at 16:50", he said.

Flood warning

Civil Protection issued a warning to the population of the risk of flooding, including in Porto and Gaia, after "persistent precipitation" led to "a significant increase in the flow of the Douro River".

Based on information from the Portuguese Environment Agency and the Center for Prediction and Prevention of Floods in the Douro, ANEPC warns in a statement that the Douro River has reached "high reference values".

ANEPC warns in the same note that the increase in flow could cause flooding in "historically more vulnerable areas".

This forecast includes the mouth of the river Sabor, the riverside area of the village of Foz Tua, the riverside area of São Martinho in Nagozelo do Douro, the pier of Pinhão, the riverside area of the city of Peso da Régua, the pier of Bitetos, the mouth of the river Tâmega and riverside areas of the Douro estuary, which include Porto and Vila Nova de Gaia.

ANEPC recommends the population not to be exposed to areas affected by floods and not to cross flooded areas.