SHOCKING footage of a popular Brit holiday hotspot has emerged after a horror storm hit the country leaving six people dead.
Recovery efforts have begun after Storm Kristin raged across Portugal with up to 125 mph winds and rain swamping cities, causing widespread damage.
Drone footage has revealed entire neighbourhoods covered in water, with streets turned into rivers and football grounds into open-air swimming pools.
Some footage shows houses with roofs blown off, entire church ceilings removed and even factories destroyed by the hurricane-force winds.
Cars have been left floating through the streets and where the water has gone down debris has been left behind.
More shocking footage shows entire forests and orchards flooded, with local rescue workers wading through chest-deep water.
Other wooded regions have also sustained significant damage after countless trees and other foliage were blown over or ripped from the ground by the storm.
Today, a 73-year-old man died near Leiria, after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning from a backup generator.
Two other men died on Saturday in separate falls while repairing roofs damaged by the storm.
Three other deaths have been directly linked to the bad weather with the other two victims said to have suffered heart attacks.
One person died when a tree collapsed on their car in Vila Franca de Xira, on the outskirts of Lisbon, according to emergency services.
Four people were also killed as the storm descended on the central city of Leiria.
Leiria city councillor Luís Lopes urged residents to take care while carrying out home repairs and to keep generators “outside in ventilated areas to stay safe”.
Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro pledged €2.5 billion (£2.1 billion) to recovery efforts today, and extended a state of calamity until February 8 in the hardest-hit areas, as the country braces for further rainfall.
A state of calamity is just one level below a state of emergency.
First imposed on Thursday, the measure gave authorities the power to enforce safety efforts and coordinate special emergency responses and was due to expire today.
“Some areas will face more serious situations, which may even require evacuation,” Montenegro said in a press conference following an emergency cabinet meeting.
He warned that much of “the ground is saturated”.
IPMA – the national weather agency – placed Portugal‘s mainland on alert until Monday for heavy rain and winds up to 60 mph, with wet conditions expected to continue throughout the week.
“Current weather predictions are very severe and could cause major damage,” Mario Silvestre, national civil protection commander, said.
“The soil can no longer retain water, so all the rain will run off into the basin areas. It is not a question of if, but when, and how severe it will be.”
Large parts of the Portuguese public have also received text alerts from the civil protection agency, warning of further flood risks.
Storm Kristin’s hurricane-force winds struck central and northern Portugal overnight on Tuesday, causing flooding, landslides, and damage to buildings and infrastructure.
As part of the recovery plan, Montenegro announced a 90-day moratorium on mortgages and other loans for residents in affected areas and earmarked €400 million (£346 million) for urgent road and railway repairs.
“We are mobilising all resources across the public, social, and private sectors to ensure that everything is fully restored as quickly as possible,” he said.
At least 167,000 people remain without power, mainly in central Portugal.
But this is down from the more than one million households that lost power when the storm hit, according to power company E-REDES.
Company president Jose Careto said he was not able to specify when power would be fully restored, warning against “false expectations”.
It follows the storm causing a red alert to be instated across the country due to the wind.
Only hours into the storm, a trail of destruction caused by snow, rain and powerful winds were visible in Portugal.
Mayor Goncalo Lopes said: “We mourn four deaths, two caused directly by the phenomenon we experienced.
“The extent of it is still difficult to calculate, but it will surely be one of the darkest days in the municipality of Leiria, putting our city and municipality on high alert.”
