Mondego River surge reaches critical levels, forces approximately 3,000 residents to evacuate....

Video captured on Thursday February 12, 2026, showed Marine Corps teams with motor boats who ferried residents to safety in the flooded town of Ereira with motor boats.

The neighbourhoods were swallowed and patrol vessels weaved through villages turned into waterways.

"At this moment we are providing support to the population of both Montemor and Ereira, assisting civil protection and the firefighters of Montemor in transporting people and supplies to the village of Ereira, which is currently isolated," Matias, a Marine Corps officer, said.

Sargento Goncalves, another Marine Corps officer, warned, "We are afraid that the flood will accelerate even further."

Eurico, a local from Ereira, added, "Especially now, since the dyke broke yesterday, it’s very likely that more water will come and rise considerably."

According to Eurico, a local from Ereira, the flooding was not caused by the river bursting, but by "a lack of maintenance on some pumps downstream that send the water back into the river."

Hermes, another resident, shared, "I'm going to Ereira to try to protect my house so that the water doesn’t get in. We have to take precautions."

He noted that six water pumping stations exist, each removing 250 cubic metres per second. "If there were four pumps working, we might have to drive through the road here," he added.

CBI News understands that at least 16 people have died, and tens of thousands remained without electricity nationwide.

In Coimbra, schools in seven parishes were closed on Wednesday February 11, 2026, and the municipal market was shut after part of a hillside city wall collapsed onto a main access road.

Since late January, floods have displaced hundreds nationwide and caused an estimated €775 million in damage. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro cancelled his Brussels' trip and oversaw the emergency as a state of calamity remains in place across 69 municipalities.