Portuguese town flooded with red wine as 2.2 million litre tank bursts

Over 2 million litres of red wine was sent cascading down the streets of a Portuguese town after a local distillery’s tank burst.

The people in the town of São Lourenço do Bairro in Levira were in for a shock after red wine from the Levira Distillery began flooding the streets when two tanks containing close to 600,000 gallons of wine burst.

Dramatic footage posted online showed a torrent of red wine flowing fast down a local road and around a bend in the town, located in the municipality of Anadia. The red wine had been held in the tanks, waiting to be bottled. The cause of the burst tanks has not yet been identified.

The incident occurred on Sunday (10 September) and prompted an environmental warning over health and safety concerns for the town’s citizens. Officials were also wary that the wine could contaminate the Certima River and affect the local water supply.

To prevent this, Anadia’s volunteer firefighters were able to direct flood water away from the river and into a nearby field. The liquid was then dredged up where it will be sent to local wastewater treatment

The distillery confirmed that no one had been hurt in the flooding, however, one person had their basement flooded with red wine.

A company spokesperson said in a statement: “Although the incident did not cause any injuries, we want to express our sincere concern for the damage caused in general to Levira and in particular to his home.”

They continued: “The causes of the incident are being investigated by the competent authorities. We assume full responsibility for the costs associated with cleaning and the repair damage and have teams available to do so immediately. We are committed to resolving this situation as quickly as possible”.

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