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Hurricane Leslie beat Portugal and Spain this weekend, bringing 100 mph winds and torrential rains to Lisbon, the Portuguese capital. Luis Belo Costa, of the National Protection Agency of Portugal, urged the population to "avoid at all costs to walk the streets," according to the Associated Press.
Infrared satellite image of Leslie cyclone approaching the Iberian Peninsula. (AEMET / AFP) (DOCUMENT)
Portugal was hardest hit by the hurricane: at least 27 people were injured, thousands of trees uprooted and more than 300,000 homes out of power. About 60 people were forced to evacuate. The coastal cities of the Iberian Peninsula have been flooded.
"I have never seen anything like it," said a resident of the seaside town of Figueira de Foz. said a local television channel, according to the British Sunday Express. "The city seemed to be in a state of war with cars crushed by fallen trees. People were very worried.
Leslie caused a lot of damage to the trees in the Portuguese seaside town of Figueira da Foz. (Carlos Costa / AFP / Getty Images) (CARLOS COSTA)
A restaurant in the Portuguese town of Praia do Pedrogao was destroyed during the storm. (Paulo Cunha / EPA-EFE / REX) (PAULO CUNHA / EPA-EFE / REX)
In Lisbon, people huddled at home. Once the storm passed, trees and power lines blocked the sidewalks. Even the main highway of Portugal has been temporarily blocked by fallen trees.
Tree branches strewn a street in the Benfica neighborhood of Lisbon. (Rafael Marchante / Reuters) (RAFAEL MARCHANTE)
That was what Lisbon's coastline looked like hours before Leslie landed. (Patricia de Melo / AFP / Getty Images) (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA)
It is unusual for a hurricane or cyclone to hit Europe. According to our colleagues at Capital Weather Gang, no hurricane has hit the continent since the 1842 hurricane in Spain. In 2005, Vince made landfall in the Iberian Peninsula.
Meteorologists attribute Leslie to warmer than average sea-surface temperatures off the Portuguese coast.
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