The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology stated today that the Government of the Azores is conducting the “survey of the damages” on the coastal areas of São Miguel that were caused by the storm that hit the southern coast last Monday. 

Fausto Brito e Abreu spoke in the village of São Roque in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, where, during the night, the storm caused the collapse of a wall that affected an area of 10 metres, including part of the churchyard.

"The Maritime Authorities and Civil Protection services have already sealed off the affected area of the churchyard," the government official said, pointing out that, in addition to safety issues, São Roque Church is an important heritage of São Miguel Island that must be preserved.

The Regional Secretary recalled that, following a visit made a few months ago to the coastline of São Roque, accompanied by the President of the Village Council, he requested to the Regional Civil Engineering Laboratory (LREC) a report on the type of intervention to be carried out in the area.

However, Brito e Abreu noted that "storms coming from the south are not that common on São Miguel Island and, as such, the urgency to take action here was not awarded this level of priority."

"There are still bad weather forecasts for Thursday and Friday," the government official said, adding that "when the wave of bad weather is over, the Government of the Azores will make a detailed assessment of the damages on the coastal areas along the southern coast in order to implement a recovery plan."

Fausto Brito e Abreu also emphasised that the Government is conducting a survey of the damages caused by bad weather in port infrastructures of São Miguel. Luckily, there were no serious damages in fishing vessels, which were kept safe.

"There was a good preparatory work carried out by fishers' associations, village councils and municipalities in a situation of red alert," said the government official.

The Regional Secretary also mentioned "the damages to fishing ports on the southern coast of São Miguel." In this context, the government official added that fishers suffered losses regarding the fishing gear stored in the fishing gear houses that were flooded by the sea, especially those located in Lagoa Fishing Port.