According to the meteorologist at the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), today, sometimes heavy showers, thunderstorms and possibly hail are expected, with the greatest impact in Baixo Alentejo and Algarve.

“It has the potential to cause rapid flooding again, like yesterday [Thursday], but it is not comparable to what happened in Spain. It is a more benign situation, but they are still floods and can have negative impacts, causing some damage”, Maria João Frada told Lusa agency.

Therefore, the IPMA issued an orange warning for Beja and Faro until 6pm today, then changing to a yellow warning.

“However, it is likely to return to orange. The depression is practically stationary until Saturday and the wind component is from the southeast in these regions and everything comes from the sea. Extreme wind phenomena may also occur,” she said.

According to Maria João Frada, heavy showers are also expected for Setúbal and Lisbon, but with less severity.

Setúbal and Lisbon are under a yellow warning from 3pm today until 6am on Saturday, with forecasts of showers, locally heavy, which may occasionally be in the form of hail accompanied by thunderstorms.

“It is possible that Lisbon and Setúbal have some abundant precipitation, but there is some uncertainty in the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation. There are no certainties, it’s not mathematics,” she said.

The IPMA also issued a yellow warning due to heavy rain for Évora (until 3pm today), Castelo Branco (between 9am and 6pm today) and Portalegre (between 9am and 3pm).

“In Madeira we also have a warning situation. We have a yellow warning at the moment and as the depression moves southwest it gets closer to Madeira with tropical air masses and there is also potential for severity and therefore an orange warning has been issued for the island between 9pm today and 9 a.m. on Saturday,” she said.

The source of the worsening of the weather is a cold depression centered in the north of Madeira, with the conditions being right for the occurrence of showers, sometimes heavy and accompanied by thunderstorms, with occasional hail, until Sunday morning.

The yellow warning, the least serious on a scale of three, is issued by IPMA whenever there is a risk situation for certain activities dependent on the meteorological situation, while the orange warning, the second most serious, is issued whenever there is a meteorological situation moderate to high risk.

Based on IPMA forecasts, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority issued a warning to the population according to which "greater severity potential" is expected in the lower Alentejo and Algarve, warning of the possibility of flooding in urban areas, floods caused due to the overflow of streams and landslides.

On Thursday, flooding occurred in the municipalities of Albufeira and Olhão, in the district of Faro, due to heavy rain.