5 April 2013

Landslides in Portugal, including a new landslide video

Posted by Dave Petley

Portugal News reports that heavy rainfall in the last few days across the country has induced landslides and floods, with  the district of Santarem being worst hit.  The most interesting landslide occurred at Guimarães, where the ring road was severed by a landslide.  On Youtube there is a dramatic video that shows the early stages of this failure but not the main landslide event.  There are some very good images of the aftermath at the end of the video.  It is worth watching:

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The modern apartment block at the top of the hill is now severely threatened by the landslide.  This website has an image that shows that the pile foundations are now exposed:

http://www.guimaraesdigital.com/index.php?a=noticias&id=52048

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Repairing the damage to these buildings is likely to be extremely difficult.