Lisbon, May 27, 2026 (Lusa) – Four months after a series of storms caused damage exceeding €5.3 billion, particularly in the centre region of Portugal, business owners, local authorities and private individuals continue to complain about delays in the arrival of aid provided by the government.
In a report from the first Open Presidency meeting which president, António José Seguro, chaired, it is noted that in the worst-affected areas, circumstances demand that “aid be expedited, measures be clarified, responses be tailored to very specific realities, coordination between agencies be improved, critical infrastructure be strengthened and accumulated vulnerabilities be addressed”.
The series of storms between late January and February 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 worth €3.5 billion in direct aid, payment deferrals and credit lines to support the recovery of households and businesses in the hardest-hit areas.
It also presented the PTRR programme (Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience) with a total budget of €22.6 billion to implement 96 measures for the economic recovery by 2035.
+++ Losses +++
According to the application for assistance that the government submitted to the European Union (EU) Solidarity Fund, the storms caused losses exceeding €5.3 billion.
From this fund, which supports member states in the event of major natural disasters or public health emergencies, the government expects to receive around €250 million.
Paulo Fernandes, the Task Force 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.
He indicated that, by 21 April, around 65,000 applications had been submitted for all the support schemes currently in place.
+++ Support +++
The government initially announced support totalling €3.5 billion for direct aid, payment deferrals and credit facilities to help households and businesses in the worst-affected areas recover.
A Task Force was set up to oversee the reconstruction and repair of damage, coordinating ministries, local authorities, Regional Coordination and Development Commission (CCDRs), 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 losses in agriculture and forestry 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 public works, and a moratorium on loans to businesses and on mortgages for owner-occupied and permanent housing, extended until the end of April 2027.
Support through Social Security and private social solidarity institutions for families in need or suffering loss of income due to the storms, total or partial exemption from Social Security contributions for up to six months, and a simplified lay-off scheme for businesses were among the other measures provided for.
The state-owned business developer, Banco Português de Fomento (BPF), has made two credit lines available to support liquidity and reconstruction: one, initially worth €500 million and subsequently increased to €1 billion, to meet the cash flow needs of businesses and legal entities; and a second credit line of €1 billion to help businesses resume operations in areas not covered by insurance.
On 15 May, it was announced that forestry companies could access a credit line backed by public guarantees from the bank, of up to €2.5 million per entity, to remove fallen trees and clear areas affected by the bad weather.
The urgent restoration of road and rail infrastructure and the urgent financing of the restoration of local public facilities and infrastructure, including schools, were among the other support measures announced.
+++ Delays in the distribution of aid +++
Complaints about delays in the allocation of aid have become a bone of contention between the opposition and the government, particularly in parliament, where opposition MPs have criticised the sluggish response, saying that "the state has failed” to help those affected by the storms.
The government has repeatedly denied this, notably by the territorial cohesion minister, who has reiterated that “never has the state made effective aid available so quickly” as in the assistance provided to the victims of the storms.
It has insisted that the process is going well as far as businesses are concerned, but acknowledges delays in allocating support for housing reconstruction, which it has attributed to the difficulty local authorities face in assessing applications.
Businesses, farmers’ associations, and local authorities complained that the aid is still taking too long to materialise, highlighting the “slowness and bureaucracy” involved, and the fact that it is insufficient.
On 12 May, the Bishop of the Diocese of Leiria-Fátima, José Ornelas, also noted that support for families and local organisations has been slow and “is causing people to lose patience”, after Leiria's Diocesan charity had warned that the delay in responses from insurers and public support was hampering the recovery of several families.
+++ Housing +++
The government has received 35,905 applications for housing reconstruction grants in the affected areas, of which nearly 17,600 were for grants of under €5,000 and nearly 18,300 for grants of over €5,000.
Following submission, applications undergo an assessment process, meaning they do not automatically correspond to the number of validated applications or the grants awarded.
The economy and territorial cohesion minister estimated that the analysis of these applications should be completed by 30 June, a date he reiterated on Friday in parliament.
However, on Tuesday, the Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Leiria Region refused to commit to this date for completing the assessment of damage to homes caused by bad weather, Castro Almeida said.
He also admitted to difficulties in the procedures for assessing damage to homes.
On 23 May, he highlighted a significant disparity between local councils: 13 had completed all verification and inspection processes for destroyed homes, 10 had assessed over 90% of support applications, while others were much slower and some had not yet assessed a single home.
Castro Almeida, Leiria city council and CCDR-Centro have all revealed that isolated cases have been identified which may constitute attempts at fraud in applications for housing reconstruction grants.
+++ Businesses +++
On 7 May, in parliament, Castro Almeida said that 7,700 businesses had received funds from the credit line the Banco Português de Fomento (BPF) managed, totalling €1.52 billion.
The exemption from social security contributions had benefited 97,000 workers and 9,000 employers, and the simplified lay-off measures had covered 5,470 workers.
The Task Force for the recovery of the Centre region estimated that between 35,000 and 40,000 companies in the industrial, services and agricultural sectors had suffered damage in the worst-affected areas.
+++ Credit moratorium +++
The government has extended the credit moratorium relating to the storms by 12 months, until the end of April 2027.
This applies to companies, sole traders, cooperatives, agricultural producers’ associations, and housing loans for households affected by temporary layoffs or unemployment.
In the case of companies, they must have benefited from the support measures now extended, from the total or partial exemption from social security contributions, or from the lay-off scheme initially provided for.
In addition, they must have recorded a fall in turnover of over 20% in 2026 Q1 or, where this is not possible, compared with the monthly average for the three months prior to January 2026.
In the case of households, the moratorium has been extended to cover mortgages for owner-occupied and permanent homes located in the affected areas, where the beneficiaries have been covered by the lay-off scheme in companies based or operating in those regions, or have been unemployed since 28 January 2026 due to the effects of Storm Kristin and the employer was based or carried out activities in those local councils.
+++ Banking +++
On 22 May, the Bank of Portugal (BdP) announced that, as of 28 April, 6,856 entities had benefited from credit moratoriums, totalling suspended loans of €1.063 billion.
Of the nearly 7,000 moratoriums, 1,243 were for businesses, with the manufacturing sector accounting for the largest share, with suspended loans totalling €651.8 million.
There were 5,613 moratoriums for private individuals, amounting to €411.3 million, with 95.1% of the total relating to mortgage loans, particularly in the Leiria district.
+++ Insurance +++
The Portuguese Association of Insurers (APS) reported that, as of 19 May 145,550 (71%) of the 205,000 claims reported had been “settled or had advance payments made”, with €530 million paid out of an estimated total of €1.3 billion, due to the series of storms.
In the case of private individuals, around 72% of claims have been settled, including closed claims and cases where advance payments have been made.
The insurers’ association said that most of the pending cases were related to “external factors”, such as delays in repairs, lack of materials or delays in obtaining quotes and supplementary documentation.
In the case of businesses, almost two-thirds, 18,600 (64%) of claims have been settled.
Regarding complaints about delays in insurers paying out claims, Minister Castro Almeida said on Friday that he intends to have a conversation with the insurers to urge them to make “advance payments against the amounts that will eventually be determined”.
+++ Open Presidency +++
The president of Portugal, António José Seguro, held an Open Presidency between 6 and 10 April in the areas affected by the storms, which resulted in a report described as “a working document” to “understand what went well, what went wrong, what remains unresolved and what needs to change”.
He warned that the consequences of this crisis persist and will continue to persist over time for many families, businesses and communities, and considered that the circumstances require that “support be accelerated, measures be clarified, responses be adapted to very specific realities, coordination between agencies be improved, critical infrastructure be strengthened and accumulated vulnerabilities be addressed”, also highlighting increased fire risks in the affected areas.
The presidency’s report, setting out conclusions, priorities and strategic lessons for the future, highlighted that the concerns are clear: "The slowness of some support measures, the persistence of unresolved situations, the need to strengthen redundancy in telecommunications, energy supply, accessibility and emergency communications, and the urgency of ensuring that the region enters the months of greatest risk in safer conditions than those in which it left winter".
It also highlighted that “several local officials emphasised the lack of clear points of contact”, saying that “the main difficulty in institutional coordination lay in the insufficient clarity and stabilisation of roles and procedures”.
“A response was in place, but it relied heavily on local adaptability and on coordination established in an emergency context,” the report said.
It also identified immediate priorities, such as unblocking outstanding payments and decisions (particularly regarding housing, insurance and public support), removing fallen timber, supporting the reopening of economic activities, strengthening the protection and resilience of the most exposed critical infrastructure, and ensuring “local psychosocial support for the most vulnerable groups”.
During the Open Presidency, António José Seguro promised to remain vigilant regarding the reconstruction of the Central region.
+++ Local authorities +++
The government has increased the Municipal Emergency Fund (FEM) by €75 million as an advance payment “on account of any financial aid contracts that may be concluded”, so that local authorities have the funds to cover the most urgent expenses arising from the storms.
The funds are to be used for the immediate repair of schools, roads and other infrastructures.
The advance may be granted to local authorities with a preliminary assessment of damage to at least €500,000, up to a maximum of 50% of the value of the damage.
Two proposals, from the government and the PCP (Portuguese Communist Party), containing exceptional financial measures for the recovery of areas affected by the storms, have been approved, and are currently under detailed discussion in parliament.
The proposals aim to establish “a temporary and exceptional scheme” offering greater flexibility in financial and budgetary management for local authorities, parishes and inter-municipal bodies.
The measures include allowing local authorities to take out short-term loans without prior authorisation from councils; enabling them to account for expenditure incurred in assisting neighbouring local authorities; ensuring that expenditure and revenue losses directly linked to the disaster are excluded from the calculation of budget balances; and allowing the mayor to approve a budget revision to "speed up urgent interventions".
Local authorities in the Central region alone reported infrastructure and equipment damage amounting to around €961 million, according to the CCDR for the Central region.
+++ 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 support is intended for farms in all areas suffering “significant losses”, even if they are outside the areas covered by the state of emergency, and the deadline for applications is mid-July.
+++ 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, according to the agriculture minister’s statement in parliament.
The government has made available €3.5 million in extraordinary support for the fisheries sector, to mitigate the impact of the grounding of vessels, 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 belonging to aquaculture companies, which was destroyed by bad weather.
+++ Clearing of forests and land +++
On 15 May, the government announced that forestry companies can access a credit line of up to €2.5 million per entity to remove fallen trees and other woody material in areas affected by bad weather.
As with the credit lines set up immediately following the storms in January and February, the funding is provided by commercial banks, backed by public guarantees the BPF bank issued to the banking institutions.
On 21 May, it was announced that landowners in 22 local councils in the Centre region affected by the storms can apply for clearance operations of up to €1,500 per hectare, through a simplified process, which will also be extended to Ansião, Figueiró dos Vinhos (Leiria district), Lousã (Coimbra) and Mação (Santarém).
+++ 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 areas covered by the “state of emergency declaration and others where the Portuguese Environment Agency has identified significant damage requiring urgent intervention”.
On 7 April, the environment minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, 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.
She noted that the most urgent interventions, which will be carried out before the bathing season, amount to €27 million.
Beaches struggling to replenish their sand before the bathing season due to the storms are granted an “exceptional” period to fly the Blue Flag, according to the European Blue Flag Association.
+++ PTRR Programme +++
The government announced the PTRR programme (Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience) on 28 April, with a total budget of €22.6 billion to implement 96 measures aimed at the economic recovery following the impact of severe weather and to address the most critical infrastructure needs, with measures to be implemented by 2035.
The programme is based on three pillars: recovery, protection and response, with short-term (by 2026), medium-term (2027 to 2029) and long-term (2030–2034) measures.
Among the measures are a set of positive discrimination policies to revitalise low-density areas, giving these areas greater weighting, and priority in accessing European funds and the state budget, and incentives to encourage people to settle in these areas.
Investing in radio stations as “crisis communication agents” and in redundant communication systems to maintain local communications in the event of terrestrial infrastructure failures, reforming the Integrated System for Portugal's Security and Emergency Networks (SIRESP), strengthening the technical and operational capacity of civil protection, and modernising electricity, gas and water storage networks are other measures envisaged.
The government also intends to establish a legal framework for disaster management, to enable a swifter response in the event of a crisis, including measures such as cordoning off affected areas and protecting consumers against price gouging and hoarding.
The economy and territorial cohesion minister will coordinate the programme, with the support of a specialised temporary agency.
The National Association of Portuguese Local Authorities (ANMP) considered the PTRR to be a strategic document, but requested clarification regarding its implementation and funding.
+++ Introduction of compulsory insurance +++
As part of the PTRR, the government will establish a fund for natural and seismic disasters, linked to compulsory home insurance, backed by a solidarity mechanism to “ensure universal access”.
The measure also includes “support instruments and incentives for taking out insurance for specific economic sectors, such as the aquaculture sector, and provides for positive discrimination in favour of vulnerable groups, small businesses and small farmers, and the promotion of mutual aid”.
+++ RRP +++
On 18 May, the economy minister announced that Brussels had approved the latest revision of Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP) projects that cannot be completed by 31 August due to the storms, so that their funding can be reallocated for other purposes, including repair work.
The value of the works that were being carried out under the RRP and which were suspended due to Storm Kristin will be around €500 million, the economy and territorial cohesion minister said on 28 March.
Castro de Almeida pointed out that Portugal will not lose the European funding, clarifying that the money will be allocated to other investments, whilst the RRP works “will be financed differently”.
+++ Deaths and state of emergency +++
At least 19 people have been killed by the bad weather since 28 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.
Between 1 and 15 February, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) recorded a total of 19,066 incidents, involving 64,636 operational responses, mainly involving fallen trees, flooding, collapsed structures and landslides.
Hundreds of people were injured and displaced or left homeless, with the most affected regions being Leiria, Coimbra (which, following heavy rain and strong winds, faced flooding on the River Mondego), Lisbon, the Setúbal Peninsula (notably with flooding in Alcácer do Sal), Oeste, Lezíria do Tejo, Médio Tejo and Aveiro.
The Portuguese Civil Protection Emergency Plan was activated between 1 and 20 February.
The government declared that 68 local councils 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 areas; it subsequently added 22 local councils to the list and later extended the state of emergency to the whole country, due to the damage caused by the storms.
+++ Telecommunications, energy, water and infrastructure +++
Over 300,000 customers of the electronic communications operators Meo, NOS, Vodafone and Nowo were affected by the bad weather, according to the National Communications Authority (Anacom).
Although mobile services have generally been restored, local councillors Lusa contacted in the first week of May reported that their communities had been without television, internet and telephone services since the end of January, particularly in the district of Santarém.
The bad weather also affected electricity and water supply infrastructure, which collapsed and took over a month to be restored to a stable state.
A Portuguese energy utility, EDP, estimated the damage caused by Storm Kristin at over €80 million.
The Águas de Portugal group estimated the cost of restoring infrastructure to re-establish basic sanitation systems at over €40 million.
A Portuguese state-owned infrastructure managing company, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), recorded over 300 complete road closures across the network it manages, including 26 roads that remained closed on 21 April, with repairs expected to take several months.
The public company also estimated that repairs to damage the storms caused on the Oeste and Beira Baixa lines should be completed by the end of 2026.
RCS/MYAL // AYLS
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