Porto, Portugal, March 12, 2026 (Lusa) - The damage caused by bad weather between October and February on the coast of mainland Portugal requires an investment of €111 million, of which €15 million is to be spent before the summer, according to a report from the Portuguese Environment Agency.
The document from the Environment Agency (APA), released on Wednesday at the agency's headquarters in Porto, predicts that €15 million will be spent by the start of the bathing season in May, and another €12 million by the end of the year, with €31 million invested by the end of 2027 and another €53 million from 2028 onwards.
The investment aims to respond to the "significant impacts on the coastal strip of mainland Portugal" resulting from the effects of the storms in January and February, namely Ingrid, Joseph, Kristin, Leonardo and Marta, including damage to infrastructure, coastal protection structures, coastal erosion and changes in beach morphology.
"Almost all of the mainland's beaches have seen a significant reduction in their sediment content", reads the report, which highlights a total of 571 instances of damage in 749 reported occurrences.
Most of the incidents were recorded in the Centre (257), and more than a third relate to coastal erosion (36.7%) damage, followed by instability in cliffs (30.6%).
As for the damage, almost half (43.3%) relates to access, followed by damage to adjacent structures (21.7%), such as sea walls, walls or rockfill, and 204 of the 571 were reported in Ovar (region of Aveiro).
The APA report also warns of a "slow and gradual" recovery of beaches, which may be delayed by further bad weather in the spring.
The report, and the main conclusions and risk minimisation measures, were the focus of a presentation on Wednesday by José Pimenta Machado, in a session with the minister for the environment and energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, and the mayor of Porto, Pedro Duarte.
In 45 districts from north to south of the country, incidents were recorded and compiled by the APA in this document, which considers them to be "the most critical", involving "significant morphological changes and structural damage".
This definition includes "beach erosion and coastline retreat, coastal flooding and overtopping phenomena, instability and landslides on cliffs, damage to coastal protection and defence infrastructure, damage to public infrastructure", from sea walls to promenades, car parks and beach accesses, and damage to equipment, beach facilities and bathing facilities.
In total, there are 86 urgent construction projects, scheduled to be completed by the end of the year, and 40 short- and medium-term projects, with a two-year horizon, in addition to 18 that were already underway, the minister said.
On the low, sandy coastline, the APA notes "marked retractions in the coastline", which reached nearly 20 metres in some places, and erosion and overtopping were noted "especially in beach-dune systems deficient in sediments" and with an erosive tendency, such as Ofir, Furadouro, Praia da Barra and São João da Caparica.
On the coast with gentle cliffs, ‘significant’ retraction was noted in the dune line and on the cliff, ‘accompanied by a reduction in beach width and volumetric loss of sediments in the emerged area’.
On the rocky cliffs, the landscape is marked by "various situations of instability", due to land movements and retraction of the cliff top.
In Ovar (region of Aveiro), Maceda beach suffered a retraction "of around 20 metres", a "drama" accentuated by the location of a landfill 500 metres from the site.
In the area covered, "the most affected districts were Matosinhos and Vila Nova de Gaia", while in the Centre, Ovar, Ílhavo, Figueira da Foz and Leiria recorded the highest retraction volume.
In the Tejo e Oeste area, it was in Mafra, Sintra, Cascais and Almada that the effects were most felt, and in Alentejo, damage to walkways and accesses is the highlight, which also happened in the Algarve, in addition to retraction of the coastline.
At Praia do Boneco, in Cascais, there is "a kind of island created by coastal erosion" that is fenced off because it is unstable and at risk, but in São Pedro de Moel, "in 15 days", the sea has already fed the beach, which previously had little sand. These are two examples that Pimenta Machado brought to show an audience that included the mayor of Ovar, Domingos Silva, whom he greeted for leading the "most affected" area.
For the engineer, this was "undoubtedly" the worst year in terms of storms since Hercules in January 2014, which was felt in Esposende, where "there are houses at risk, with an imminent threat of collapse" near the beach, other areas with sand retraction, material damage and loss of access.
Among the urgent projects are the reconstruction of access roads, reinforcement of dune ridges, interventions on walkways, car parks, repositioning of estuaries, stabilisation and cleaning works, considered most urgent for safety reasons or to minimise impacts.
In the medium term, there are plans for several artificial beach nourishment projects, such as on three beaches in Tavira, as well as in Faro and Ílhavo, but also repairs and structural reinforcements from Vila do Conde to Vagos, and from Setúbal to Ovar.
In addition, 18 operations worth €63 million were already underway, according to APA President José Pimenta Machado in his presentation of the document.
"We already have 18 operations contracted or underway, worth around €63 million, in Costa da Caparica, Espinho and the Algarve, and by May we will have invested €15 million, working with local authorities to improve access, stabilise cliffs, restore walkways and clean beaches," he said.
Among the projects to be carried out by the end of the year is the Moledo wall, a quick stabilisation project followed by another intervention, followed by €84 million for short and medium-term works.
According to the minister, there is a total ‘pot’ of €174 million, between what is already underway and what is about to start, after the Cabinet approves the “package” and it is published, to invest in this recovery and mitigation.
The most urgent work, worth €27 million, will lead to an injection of funds into the APA by the Government, taking advantage of the "faster" Environmental Fund, and the remainder will "fit within the scope of Sustentável2030", which is more time-consuming in administrative terms.
Further ahead, the minister said, a similar plan will be drawn up for hydrographic recovery on the banks and in the affected rivers and streams, including the recovery of dykes, under the PTRR - Portugal Transformation, Recovery and Resilience Programme.
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