So, the storm we had here last week, caused a lot of damage to the Algarve...
It's the same storm that caused even more damage in the UK in the past days. And while it's sad that the UK had to go through that, it's also sad that the damage in Portugal and Spain doesn't get acknowledged.
70% of the Southern Algarve beaches are destroyed and have medium to hard damage. We've heard of beach restaurants fighting at this very moment to not fall into the ocean, because their base was destroyed by wind and water. We've heard of lighthouses that were taken away by the forces and are gone. We know of wooden piers and platforms that have been here for ages that are just gone now (even here in Armação De Pêra, the beach where we took the Santa Claus picture in December had a construction like that... HAD... because the water took it away). There was a small tornado in the city of Faro that caused havoc in the harbor, destroying boats of the fishermen that used them to feed their families. The harbor of Portimão has been under attack by the storm and needs rebuilding now. Pictures of Lagos are circulating, showing waves of 5-10 meters forcing the beaches and harbor to their knees. The South coastline of Portugal is made of high cliffs and rocks (check our videos, we filmed a lot of the coastline!), but big piece of the cliffs fell down because of the powerful weather.
And that's only the Algarve. I'm not even talking about the rest of the Iberian Insula.
I know this storm did even more damage to the UK and I know that the UK is seen by the world as a much more important country (which I personally don't agree with... every country is evenly valuable), but can we please give some thoughts to the local people of Portugal and Spain too? They also went through a lot and a lot of people have to rebuild pieces of their lives too now (which they didn't have any chance to, because there's still so much heavy wind and rain on our path for the rest of the week). They deserve some acknowledgement too! They deserve your thoughts too.
People here are amazing and welcomed our family with open arms during the first leg of our full-time traveling life. They deserve some love too!
To all the beautiful people here in the Algarve. We went through the storm with you, but we didn't loose parts of our life, like you did. We already helped out where we could and we will continue doing that for the rest of our stay in Portugal (which is coming to an end). We already know that you are very strong people and will be on your feet again in no time, but we still wanted you to know that we think about you. It's not going to help you, I know. It pains us that we can't do more than helping out locally to help those who need.
Either way, the world needs to know that you too were affected. That you too lost a lot in this storm.
Lots of respect to all of you!
