By Sergio Goncalves and Miguel Pereira
LISBON/LEIRIA, Feb 2 (Reuters) – Last week’s Storm Kristin left hundreds of homes in central Portugal without roofs, tens of thousands without power and residents lining up for emergency building materials, as authorities warned damage could run into billions of euros.
The storm swept across the region early on Wednesday, with wind gusts topping 200 kph (124 mph) and heavy rain uprooting trees and ripping off roofs. It killed at least six people and cut power to hundreds of thousands of households.
“The roof blew off, all the windowpanes are broken, everything is chaos and misery,” said Paula Franco as she queued in Leiria for donated tiles to repair her home.
Portugal’s government on Sunday approved a 2.5 billion-euro ($2.95 billion) package of loans and incentives to help people and businesses rebuild after the storm.
The government could apply for grants from the European Solidarity Fund and unused EU recovery funds to finance reconstruction, Environment and Energy Minister Maria da Graca Carvalho said on Monday at a joint news conference with EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen.
Leiria, one of Portugal’s main industrial hubs known for its plastics and metalworking industries, was among the hardest-hit areas.
Hundreds of houses, several roads, schools, factories and railway lines have been affected. At the Monte Real air base near Leiria, the storm damaged several aircraft, including F16 fighter jets.
Nearly 170,000 households were still without electricity on Monday, Graca Carvalho said.
Damage in the region could total between 1.5 billion euros and 2 billion euros, Henrique Carvalho, president of the Leiria Business Association, told broadcaster NOW.
The government on Sunday extended a state of calamity in 69 municipalities until February 8, with more heavy rain and flooding expected.
(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves and Miguel Pereira; editing by Charlie Devereux and Ros Russell)
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