MADRID -- Heavy overnight rains flooded Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, and killed a 55-year-old woman who got trapped by the water in the basement where she lived, the national Civil Protection Agency said Thursday.
The intense rainfall and winds washed away cars and flooded streets, buildings, and public transport stations, blocking some metro lines. Authorities shut roads around the capital and city tunnels.
Among hundreds of incidents reported, local hospital San Francisco Xavier lost part of its roof and water flooded some of the building.
The Civil Protection authority has called on citizens not to leave their homes and to try to avoid low-level areas.
Portuguese weather agency IPMA has placed all Lisbon districts under red alert, the most severe of three levels, and forecast the rain to last until Friday.
