LISBON: Portugal braced on Saturday for more heavy rain as some 200,000 consumers were still without power days after Storm Kristin swept the country killing five people.
The national weather agency, IPMA, has placed all of mainland Portugal on alert until Monday for heavy rain accompanied by winds of up to 100 kmh (60 mph).
With rivers already swollen and the soil waterlogged, Portugal’s civil protection service warned the fresh rainfall could cause flash flooding in urban areas and trigger landslides and rockfalls.
Officials urged residents to secure loose objects, avoid vulnerable coastal and riverside areas, and take precautions when driving.
Storm Kristin’s hurricane-force winds struck central and northern Portugal overnight Tuesday, causing flooding and property damage and disrupting travel. It also tore down about 5,800 trees across Portugal.
Emergency services said they carried out 34 land rescues and 17 water rescues in its wake.
Some 198,000 customers were still without power Saturday afternoon, mainly in the Leiria district of central Portugal, according to power company E-Redes.
A 73-year-old man died Saturday after falling from a roof while replacing tiles in the town of Batalha near Leiria, local officials said.
Leiria mayor Goncalo Lopes appealed for volunteers to help repair damaged roofs before more rain arrived Sunday.
Portugal braces for more rain as 200,000 still without power
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Portugal braces for more rain as 200,000 still without power
- Officials urged residents to secure loose objects, avoid vulnerable coastal and riverside areas
- Emergency services said they carried out 34 land rescues and 17 water rescues in its wake
Hungary says it will block a key EU loan to Ukraine until Russian oil shipments resume
- Szijjártó said: “As long as Ukraine blocks the resumption of oil supplies to Hungary, Hungary will block European Union decisions that are important and favorable for Ukraine”
- Hungary’s decision to block the key funding came two days after it suspended diesel shipments
BUDAPEST: Hungary will block a planned 90-billion-euro ($106-billion) European Union loan to Ukraine until the flow of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline resumes, Hungary’s foreign minister said.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since Jan. 27 after what Ukrainian officials said was a Russian drone attack damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude across Ukrainian territory and into Central Europe.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have both received a temporary exemption from an EU policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil, have accused Ukraine — without providing evidence — of deliberately holding up supplies. Both countries ceased shipping diesel to Ukraine this week over the interruption in oil flows .
In a video posted on social media Friday evening, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó accused Ukraine of “blackmailing” Hungary by failing to restart shipments. He said his government would block a massive interest-free loan the EU approved in December to help Kyiv to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.
“We will not give in to this blackmail. We do not support Ukraine’s war, we will not pay for it,” Szijjártó said. “As long as Ukraine blocks the resumption of oil supplies to Hungary, Hungary will block European Union decisions that are important and favorable for Ukraine.”
Hungary’s decision to block the key funding came two days after it suspended diesel shipments to its embattled neighbor and only days before the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Yet Hungary and Slovakia — both EU and NATO members — have maintained and even increased supplies of Russian oil and gas.
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long argued Russian fossil fuels are indispensable for its economy and that switching to energy sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse — an argument some experts dispute.
Widely seen as the Kremlin’s biggest advocate in the EU, Orbán has vigorously opposed the bloc’s efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion, and blasted attempts to hit Russia’s energy revenues that help finance the war. His government has frequently threatened to veto EU efforts to assist Ukraine.
On Saturday, Slovakia’s populist Prime minister Robert Fico said his country will stop providing emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine if oil is not flowing through the Druzhba by Monday. Orbán’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, said earlier this week that Hungary, too, was exploring the possibility of cutting off its electricity supplies to Ukraine.
Not all of the EU’s 27 countries agreed to take part in the 90-billion-euro loan package for Kyiv. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic opposed the plan, but a deal was reached in which they did not block the loan and were promised protection from any financial fallout.
