The landscape crossed by Depression Kristin in the early hours of Wednesday is today sprinkled with the colors of the tarpaulins that protect the destroyed roofs, but the search for tiles has become urgent to protect the houses from the rain.
“I’m going to get tiles from Coruche, one euro each. They’re more expensive than gold”, says Carlos Sousa, resident of a land near Freixianda, municipality of Ourém.
Beside him, in the town of Lameiria, builder José Martins transports a pallet of tiles from the warehouse, which was also destroyed by the storm.
“I have orders for tiles from more than a hundred customers”he reports, highlighting that he will take this lot to Carcavelos, in the same municipality, for a person who “has been sleeping in the rain for several days”.
In Suimo, Tomar, José Manuel and Maria Fernanda Neves asked friends for help to protect the house, with the roof ripped off by the wind.
Accommodated in a pension in Tomar by the local authority, “because the house is not fit for purpose, it rains everywhere”, Fernanda Neves explains that her husband and friends They are removing tiles from the eaves and balcony to place them on the roof.
“It doesn’t solve it, but at least it rains less”, says the owner of the house, aged less than 20, where she invested her life savings.
“We are alive, we survived”, says José Manuel, who remembers the moments of terror of the depression.
“We heard the noise before the storm arrived. It was something indescribable”, he says.
The tile business is now the big topic for those who want to protect their homes.
“I’m taking tiles from a neighbor’s shed to put on my house. Because I can’t find mine like mine”, says José Pinto, in Olalhas, Tomar.
Builder José Martins explains that this is the biggest problem with roofs, as “there is no brand, no shape, there are tiles from factories that no longer exist”.
And, if Carlos Sousa doesn’t find his tiles in Coruche, there is only one solution: “it’s to remove the ones I have and put them all in another type”.
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