From 2007 that the Guadiana riverbed did not overflow the banks and covered by complex the pier of Mértola and Pomarão, eventually damaging the river structures to support maritime navigation.
At the origin of this full of “Grande Rio do Sul” are the discharges that are being made from the Pedrogão Dam, compared to the large volume of water that arrives from the river river (Moura) and the water turbiding of the Alqueva Electric Centers that produce energy to manage the tails that have arrived at the resident.
The Enterprise Development and Infrastructures of Alqueva (EDIA) It has been running the level of Alqueva since last week, that the 07,00 on Tuesday morning presented a quota of 151,55 meters, being a 45 centimeters of the toral filling, that does not happen due to the management done by EDIA.
Having not generated any human or animal damage, The sea anchoracers of the pier vessels of Mértola and the former Minas Gerais port of Pomarão, in the same county, were eventually dragged to the riverbed and some ended up sink. In the Cais de Mértola where the recovery works of the same, portable containers and bathrooms were eventually dragged and even floating.
When Lidador News, Jorge Santos, commander of the Mértola Volunteer Firefighters, justified that “despite the flood, the occurrences we were called do not represent anything special in terms of losses ”, concluded.
It was almost a century and a half, In the terrible night of 7 December 1876, that caused in Mértola a frightening flood making it collapsed enough houses and causing huge damage, Leaving part of the village under water.
According to the press of the time, namely the Jornal Comércio do Sul, that was published in Faro, “Some corpses were dragged by the waters, A woman clinging to a tree trunk, a child of an early age in a crib and a man. So these losses of human lives, The crews of several vessels were also joined, that were dragged by the current and wreck (11 dead ”, revealed the publication.
In April 1977, The government of the time granted several monetary supports to farmers on the banks of the affected Guadiana and granted funds “to kill hunger and cold to the flooded”.
So that the terrible full of the Guadiana River is perpetuated in the memory of residents and visitors, In the old building of the City Council of Mértola was placed a lapid, where it left recorded: “Right here came the diluvial flood of Guadiana on the terrible night of December 7, 1876”.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
Pictures of the Guadiana River: copyright
