Lisbon, April 26, 2026 (Lusa) - Three months after a series of storms caused over €5.3 billion in damage on the Portuguese mainland, business owners, local authorities and private individuals continue to complain that support is trickling in.
Portugal was hit by a series of storms between 22 January and 15 February, which mainly affected the central area of Leiria, Coimbra, Santarém and Lisbon, causing damage to more than €5.3 billion, according to the application for support from the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF), the government submitted on 13 April.
These events caused at least 19 deaths, destroyed homes, water, energy and communications infrastructure, and had a severe impact on ports, hospitals, schools, heritage sites and economic activity.
The government responded with exceptional and urgent measures, amounting to €3.5 billion for direct aid, payment deferrals and credit lines to support the recovery of households and businesses in the worst-affected local authorities.
By Tuesday, around 65,000 applications had been submitted for all the support schemes currently in place, covering agriculture, Social Security, the Tax Authority and the Employment Institute, including almost 36,000 applications for housing reconstruction.
According to Paulo Fernandes, the Mission Structure coordinator set up to oversee the reconstruction of the Central region, the total amount disbursed to individuals, businesses and public bodies is close to €2 billion.
However, business owners, farmers, local authorities and private individuals continue to highlight the slow pace of payments and the bureaucratic nature of the procedures.
To help Portugal recover economically from the consequences of the bad weather, the government will present on Tuesday the final version of the PTRR programme – Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience, with measures to be implemented by 2035.
+++ Deaths +++
At least 19 people were killed by the bad weather in late January and February in Portugal.
The causes of death include falling from roofs during repairs, injuries caused by collapsing structures, incidents on watercourses during floods, carbon monoxide poisoning and one case of electrocution.
+++ Incidents +++
Between 1 and 15 February, the Portuguese National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) recorded 19,066 incidents involving 64,636 operational personnel.
Fallen trees were the most common type of incident, followed by flooding, collapsed structures and landslides.
In the wake of the storms, hundreds of people were injured and displaced or left homeless.
Leiria, Coimbra (which, following heavy rain and strong winds, experienced flooding on the River Mondego), Lisbon, the Setúbal Peninsula (notably in Alcácer do Sal), Oeste, Lezíria do Tejo, Médio Tejo and Aveiro were the regions most affected.
The Portuguese Civil Protection Emergency Plan was activated between 1 and 20 February.
+++ State of Emergency +++
On 29 January, the government declared that 68 local authorities in the areas affected by Storm Kristin were in a state of emergency, a declaration that entails a range of support measures and exceptional provisions for these local authorities.
On 25 February, the government added 22 local authorities to the list. Subsequently, the state of emergency was extended nationwide, provided the damage was caused by storms.
On Friday, the inter-municipal communities of the Leiria Region, Coimbra Region and Médio Tejo asked the government to extend the exceptional measures to support the economy and employment in the areas affected by the Kristin disaster, until 30 June 2026.
+++ Support +++
The government announced support measures totalling up to €3.5 billion for direct aid, payment deferrals, and credit facilities to help households and businesses in the worst-affected local authorities recover.
A Mission Structure has been set up to oversee the reconstruction and repair of damage, coordinating ministries, local authorities, the Regional Coordination and Development Commission, the social sector, and businesses.
Among the main measures to address the damage are support for the reconstruction of owner-occupied homes and compensation for agricultural and forestry losses of up to €10,000.
It was also decided to simplify procedures to speed up reconstruction, such as waiving the need for planning permission and prior urban, environmental and administrative checks for building works, and a 90-day moratorium on loans to businesses and on mortgages for owner-occupied and permanent housing, with the possibility of extending this for a further 12 months after that period.
Households facing hardship or loss of income can access social security support, and support has been approved for private social solidarity organisations to strengthen the social response in the affected areas.
For businesses, total or partial exemption from social security contributions for up to six months and a simplified layoff scheme have been made available.
Two credit lines are available from Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) to support liquidity and reconstruction: one of €500 million for the cash flow needs of businesses and legal entities, and a second credit line of €1 billion to support the recovery of business activity in areas not covered by insurance.
Among other measures, €400 million is also earmarked for the urgent restoration of road and rail infrastructure, and €200 million for the urgent financing of the restoration of local public facilities and infrastructure, including schools.
The government has also approved a reduction in diesel prices for fishing and agriculture and adopted other temporary measures, such as an exemption from motorway tolls for motorways crossing the worst-affected regions.
It has also authorised the transfer of a total of €250 million to the relevant regional development councils, earmarked for the urgent and immediate repair of schools, local roads and other facilities in local authorities and parishes, and for the repair of owner-occupied homes.
+++ Losses +++
Paulo Fernandes, the Mission Structure coordinator set up to oversee the reconstruction of Portugal’s Central Region, initially estimated that the damage caused by the storms would cost between €5 and 6 billion.
This week, Paulo Fernandes noted that this initial estimate was not far from reality, saying that the government's request for aid to the European Union indicated losses of over €5.3 billion.
Leiria, Marinha Grande and Pombal account for around a third of the total losses caused by the storms.
+++ Applications for support +++
According to the Mission Structure coordinator, by 21 April, around 65,000 applications had been submitted for all the support schemes currently in place.
This figure includes almost 36,000 applications for housing reconstruction and for support measures in the fields of agriculture, Social Security, the Tax Authority, and the Employment Institute, amongst others.
“The total amount that has reached people, businesses and public bodies directly, including approved exemptions and the sum of around €360 million paid out by insurance companies up to 21 April, is "close to €2 billion, which is a very significant figure”, he said.
+++ Delays in the distribution of aid +++
Businesses, farmers’ associations, and local authorities complain that the aid is still taking too long to reach those in need and is insufficient.
The allocation of aid for housing reconstruction is also taking longer than expected. As of Tuesday, of the nearly 36,000 applications, 10,000 had been assessed, and just over 3,000 had been paid out.
The National Confederation of Agriculture warned on Thursday of delays and shortcomings in support for affected farmers and producers, saying that the measures announced fall far short of what is needed.
The President of AIHO (Association for Horticulture of the West), Sérgio Ferreira, also complained about delays in the payment of support to farmers.
Trade, industry, services and tourism associations in Leiria and Coimbra, and the Intermunicipal Communities of Médio Tejo and the Leiria Region, have warned of the slowness and bureaucracy in the processes for allocating support to the public, saying that the funds that have reached the region are “manifestly insufficient”.
+++ Housing +++
The government has received 35,905 applications for housing reconstruction grants in the affected areas, amounting to €210 million, according to the territorial cohesion ministry.
Of the total applications submitted, nearly 17,600 relate to requests for support of less than €5,000 and nearly 18,300 to requests for support of more than €5,000.
Following submission, applications undergo an assessment process, so they do not automatically correspond to the number of validated applications or the grants awarded.
The territorial cohesion minister estimated that the analysis of these applications should be completed by 30 June.
This support is limited to a maximum of €10,000, and for applications of up to €5,000, a simplified procedure has been introduced that allows proof of damage to be provided through photographs.
Delays have been observed mainly in cases of damage exceeding €5,000, which require validation through a technical inspection of the property.
According to the Mission Structure coordinator, by 21 April, the local authorities had assessed 10,000 applications for housing support, of which more than 3,000 had been approved for payment.
By the same date, 2,400 applications had been rejected.
The average amount requested in applications is around €5,300, but the average amount paid was €3,058, Paulo Fernandes said.
More than 10,000 applications for housing renovation came from the local authorities of Leiria.
+++ Businesses +++
By mid-April, the Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) had approved or was in the process of approving loans totalling €1.462 billion to around 7,000 businesses to support reconstruction following damage caused by bad weather, according to the bank's chair.
Gonçalo Regalado was speaking in parliament about special credit lines backed by public guarantees to help businesses affected by the bad weather secure lower financing costs.
The Mission Structure for the recovery of the Central region estimated that between 35,000 and 40,000 companies in the industrial, services and agricultural sectors suffered damage in the worst-affected areas, which are home to a total of around 55,000 companies.
+++ Agriculture +++
The government has paid €3.3 million to 431 farmers affected by bad weather, as part of the simplified support scheme with a €10 million allocation for local authorities in a state of emergency, announced the agriculture and maritime affairs minister, José Manuel Fernandes, on 15 April.
The government extended the support for farms approved in the wake of the storms to all areas with “significant losses”, even if they are not covered by the local authorities under the state of emergency, and extended the deadline for applications by 60 working days (until mid-July).
Applications for the restoration of productive potential, under the Strategic Plan for the Common Agricultural Policy, close on 30 April.
+++ Fisheries +++
In the fisheries sector, 1,268 applications had been submitted by mid-April, of which 511 were approved.
€245,000 had been paid out in relation to 56 applications.
The government has made available extraordinary support for the fisheries sector, amounting to €3.5 million, to mitigate the impact of having to keep boats in harbour, through the Mar 2030 programme.
The aquaculture sector in Portugal recorded a loss of at least €1.5 million, the same amount as the support made available through the Mar 2030 programme for the replacement of equipment for aquaculture companies that was destroyed by bad weather.
Applications are open until 30 April.
+++ Telecommunications, energy and water +++
Three months after the storms began, around 20,000 customers remain without fixed-line services, the National Communications Authority (Anacom) told Lusa on Friday.
Anacom also said that it had received “around 1,200 written complaints relating to the extreme weather events at the start of 2026”, with “delays in restoring services and/or recurring faults after repairs” among the main issues, and reports of faults in fixed and mobile telephone services, fixed and mobile internet access services, subscription television services and digital terrestrial television.
When contacted by Lusa, the mayors of Mação, Tomar and Ferreira do Zêzere, in the district of Santarém, reported that telecommunications faults persist in these areas, with fallen poles, cables on the ground and unstable services, in a recovery process they considered slow.
Mobile telecommunications services have now generally been restored.
More than 300,000 customers of the telecom operators Meo, NOS, Vodafone and Nowo were affected by the storms, according to Anacom.
The main operators estimate that services will be fully restored in the affected areas by the end of April.
The bad weather also affected the electricity and water supply infrastructure, which collapsed and took over a month to be restored properly.
The Energy Services Regulatory Authority has clarified that the extraordinary measures in the energy sector applicable to customers affected by the bad weather will remain in force until 30 April.
These include paying electricity and gas bills in instalments, exemption from payment for contracted power during the period of supply interruption, and a ban on suppliers cutting off the electricity supply due to non-payment.
EDP estimated the impact caused by Storm Kristin at around €80 million.
The 'Águas de Portugal' water company group estimated the cost of restoring infrastructure to re-establish basic sanitation systems at around €40 million.
+++ Roads and Railways +++
The national road and rail infrastructure manager, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), reported that 26 roads across Portugal remained closed on 21 April, noting that some repairs could take several months.
Following the storms, IP recorded more than 300 complete road closures across the network it manages.
The state company also estimated that repairs to damage caused by the storms on the Oeste and Beira Baixa lines should be completed by the end of 2026.
+++ Forests +++
More than 3,000 kilometres of forest tracks affected by bad weather had been cleared by 15 April, the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) told Lusa on Friday, saying that a third of the forest road network cleared by that date is in the Leiria region.
The ICNF also revealed that the Casal da Lebre (Marinha Grande), Ravasco (Leiria) and Leiria National Forests were “particularly affected, with many woodland areas there having been almost completely destroyed”.
On 31 March, the Secretary of State for Forests said that it would be impossible to remove all the burnt timber from the affected areas by the summer.
He said the focus was on mitigating fire risks and that priority areas should be identified for intervention.
Landowners must clear their land by 31 May or by 30 June in the areas most affected by the storms.
The European Commission has approved a €250 million package of state aid for the forestry sector in Portugal, valid until 31 December 2029, to reforest affected areas and compensate landowners for loss of income.
+++ Riverside Areas +++
On 16 April, the cabinet meeting approved funding of €76.5 million “to rebuild and protect riverside and coastal areas” most affected by the “series of storms”, particularly water infrastructure and the coastline, in local authorities covered by the “state of emergency declaration and others where the Portuguese Environment Agency [APA] has identified significant damage requiring urgent intervention”.
On 7 April, the environment minister had indicated that the government has €174 million to invest in coastal areas until the end of 2027 and that 571 instances of damage caused by the winter storms had been recorded.
Maria da Graça Carvalho said that the most urgent works, which would be carried out before the bathing season, amount to €27 million.
+++ European Solidarity Fund +++
On 13 April, the government applied to the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF) for support, reporting losses of more than €5.3 billion due to bad weather.
The EUSF is designed to support member states in the event of major natural disasters or public health emergencies, to assist with the reconstruction of affected public infrastructure and emergency response operations.
Two days later, the European Commission said it had received Portugal's application and was assessing it.
+++ Advance payment for local authorities’ urgent expenses +++
On 15 April, the government issued an order to increase the Municipal Emergency Fund by €75 million as an advance “on account of financial aid contracts to be concluded”, so that local authorities have funds to cover the most urgent expenses arising from the storms.
The funds are to be used for the immediate repair of schools, municipal roads and other local authority infrastructure.
The advance may be granted to local authorities with a preliminary assessment of damage to at least 500,000 euros, up to a maximum of 50% of the total damage cost.
The National Association of Portuguese Local Authorities has reiterated the need for a financial package to enable local authorities to rebuild infrastructure and facilities, particularly for small and medium-sized councils with limited budgets and resources.
+++ Insurance +++
By mid-April, insurers had paid out €359 million in claims for storm damage, with the total cost of covered damage expected to reach €1.086 billion.
According to the Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS), the bad weather had so far led to 193,000 claims, of which 106,000 had already been settled or had received advance payments.
The APS indicated that Leiria was the local authority with the highest volume of losses covered by insurance, followed by Marinha Grande and Pombal.
+++ Banking +++
By the end of March, nearly 7,400 individual and business customers affected by the bad weather, with loans totalling €930 million, had signed up to the loan repayment moratorium announced by the government, the Bank of Portugal deputy chair said this week, emphasising that this information is still “incomplete and provisional”.
Clara Raposo said that the amount of loans covered by the moratorium represents “less than 1.5% of household mortgage loans and 4% of loans granted to businesses” in the regions affected by the storms.
She also pointed out that 60% of applications for the 90-day moratorium came from businesses, mostly medium-sized and export-oriented.
+++ PTRR Programme +++
The government approved the final version of the "Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience" (PTRR) programme on Tuesday and announced its total budget, the Prime Minister said at the time.
The PTRR is a programme designed to enable Portugal to recover economically from the consequences of adverse weather and to address the most critical infrastructure, with measures to be implemented by 2035.
As part of the programme’s public consultation, the Intermunicipal Community of the Leiria Region submitted investment proposals totalling €675 million, of which €350 million is earmarked for infrastructure.
The CCDR (Regional Coordination and Development Commission) of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley submitted a proposal to the government comprising 187 projects considered to be of structural importance for the region, and the priority for the Northern Region will be the recovery of critical infrastructure, without neglecting resilience and the future, said the president of the CCDR, Álvaro Santos.
+++ RRP +++
The value of the works that were being carried out under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which was suspended due to Storm Kristin, is estimated at around €500 million, the economy and territorial cohesion minister said on 28 March.
Castro de Almeida said that Portugal would not lose European funding, clarifying that the money will be allocated to other investments, whilst the RRP works “will be financed in another way”.
The European Commission confirmed, in response to Lusa, that it is working with the Portuguese authorities to identify RRP projects that cannot be completed by 31 August due to the storms, to reallocate their funding to other purposes, including repair efforts.
+++ Open Presidency +++
On 6 April, in the Central region, the president of Portugal launched his first Open Presidency, focused on responding to bad weather to “help alleviate people’s difficulties and centred on solving their problems”.
António José Seguro promised to remain vigilant regarding the reconstruction of the Central region, considering that it is necessary to maintain “the level of aid and proximity”, speed up support and adapt measures.
Saying that it was not yet time for an assessment, he called for “fewer words and more action” but considered that it was necessary to understand what happened to “draw lessons for the future”.
The previous week, Seguro had visited Alcácer do Sal without prior announcement to assess on the ground the progress of recovery work following the floods that affected the entire riverside area and agricultural fields in the municipality in early February.
RCS/MYAL // ADB.
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