Guimaraes, Portugal, July 3, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal's Minister for the Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, on Friday expressed “great concern” about the high temperatures and reiterated her calls for the public to follow the guidance issued by Civil Protection and the ministry of health.
“According to forecasts from the national meteorological institute (IPMA), we are set to have almost 10 days of above-average temperatures. Worse still, the minimum temperatures are also very high. There is none of the cooling effect that usually occurs at night. The high temperatures are combined with strong winds, so we have a set of challenging weather conditions here,” said Maria da Graça Carvalho.
The minister, who was speaking to journalists after signing agreements with Guimarães city council as part of the Cabinet’s programme taking place today in Guimarães, in the district of Braga, said that the days of this heatwave are causing “great concern”, but expressed hope that "people are aware of what is permitted and what is advised or discouraged".
“My appeal is for people to follow these guidelines. There are things that are actually prohibited (…). We urge people to follow the guidelines issued by both Civil Protection and the ministry of health, so that we can get through this heatwave with as little impact as possible,” she said.
Maria da Graça Carvalho said she has been in “constant” contact with the water services due to the increased consumption recorded in recent days, which has already caused “some faults in supply systems, particularly in municipal systems”.
“Fortunately, we have water reserves because it rained heavily this winter. We have reservoirs and dams with very large reserves,” she noted.
As for electricity, noting that “a record for electricity usage has also been broken”, most likely due to “many air-conditioners being switched on”, the minister assured that the Portuguese electricity grid is “robust”.
“I hope it holds up. There was a fault, but it wasn’t even due to excessive consumption; it was simply a routine fault in the Sintra area and they quickly restored the service. So far, therefore, there has been no problem with the grid due to above-normal electricity consumption,” she concluded.
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