Lisbon, Feb. 4, 2026 (Lusa) - The passage of storm Kristin through mainland Portugal has led to the shutdown of several factories in the automotive sector, and some have still not been able to resume production, the president of AFIA told Lusa, pointing out that there are customers in Europe with production lines at a standstill.
"There are some factories that have not yet been able to restart production because their situation is a total disaster," with "the structures of buildings destroyed and equipment paralysed, either because they have no place to work or because they have been damaged by rain and other debris," said the president of the Portuguese Association of Manufacturers for the Automotive Industry (AFIA), José Couto, to Lusa.
There is still a standstill and delays in the start-up of automotive component factories, some of which may take a long time to resume due to losses and damage to buildings and equipment.
According to the president of AFIA, around 20 companies in the automotive industry, located between Aveiro and Alcobaça, in the central region of the country, were affected by Storm Kristin, which is "significant in a group of companies that numbers around 360".
These factories had customers in Europe who will also have been affected by these stoppages, with "some customers changing their production plans" and even halting production lines.
"The information is that there are production lines at a standstill, there are factories, at this moment, customers who have had to change their production plans, but the total disaster has not yet been assessed," he pointed out.
The largest customers are in Spain and Germany, where the impact of this suspension is likely to be felt most, but also in France, where "there are factories that are currently experiencing production problems due to the stoppage in Portugal," he said.
On the other hand, there are factories in this sector in Portugal that have already managed to restart production after being paralysed for two, three or four days "because there was no power and they had minor damage to their structures".
With regard to the power outage, he pointed out that "most of the factories that were without power yesterday [Tuesday] already had power and were therefore preparing to start up again yesterday and today".
However, he noted that the information may not be completely reliable because "the companies were without power and internet for a long time and it was very difficult to contact the factories," so they are "continuously monitoring this process."
José Couto said that the expectation now is that "companies will quickly be able to resolve some of the problems they have, namely issues with building roofs or structural damage in some companies, because as soon as this is resolved, they will be able to look forward to restarting production".
He warned that the loss of roofing at companies causes significant changes and damage to the equipment installed, both because of rain and humidity, making it a situation that is "highly detrimental to the equipment."
With regard to using companies to solve these problems, there are issues of labour availability, he pointed out, adding that he nevertheless believes that "the crisis management has already made this perfectly clear and will also be in the process of identifying and helping to overcome this".
Ten people have died since last week as a result of the bad weather.
The total or partial destruction of homes, businesses and equipment, fallen trees and structures, road and transport service disruptions, particularly railways, school closures and power, water and communication outages are the main material consequences of the storm, which has left hundreds injured and homeless.
The government has declared a state of emergency until next Sunday for 68 areas and announced a package of support measures worth up to €2.5 billion.
MES/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
