Bad weather in Portugal - lots of trees uprooted!

Take a look at Pedro Agostinho's photos here

Hello friends and Zazzlers!

Yesterday morning I had no electricity in the house and the internet was off all day and night! How ironic! This had to happen just a few days after I'd been writing about our mild Portuguese winter! So this weekend was - and still is - an example of what you usually don't get when coming to Portugal. Heavy downpours from time to time and very strong winds (over 140 km/hour ) caused damages all over the country but mainly in Coimbra district, that is my district, Lisbon, and Porto. In the city where I live now (Figueira da Foz) there are damaged roofs and covers smashed windows, many advertising signs, and plates of transit were ripped and ended on the floor. There are lots of uprooted trees everywhere, and maybe some smashed cars and structures there too. The sea got pretty wild, so the port was closed for sure. On Saturday I went to bed very late after watching some movies. The wind was already very strong. Eventually, it got so strong that the buzzing around my house made it impossible for me to sleep at all. I spent yesterday feeling like a zombie. At 5 o'clock I had to listen to the news on my mobile phone radio - that's how I knew that constraints on transit were affecting thousands of Portuguese. Some trains that left Lisbon in the morning with Porto as a destination were still waiting in Coimbra and this was afternoon already. Those people expected two hour and a half trip! They were inside those trains for maybe 8 hours. Many trees fell on the highway and circulation had to be interrupted. At least one person died due to the strong wind and two people suffered serious injuries due to a tree collapse. Today skies are still heavily clouded, and rain is still falling but the strong wind has stopped. At least in my city. I am staying inside.