Portuguese town ‘flooded’ with 2.2 million litres of red wine after distillery tanks explode
The streets of Sao Lourenco do Bairro in Portugal were painted red on Sunday after two tanks owned by a winery exploded, spilling 2.2 million litres of red wine into the small town.
The amount of wine spilt from Levira Distillery is almost enough to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool, which prompted local officials to issue an environmental alert, according to news reports.
Videos circulating online show a red torrent gushing down a hill through the town, which has a population of more than 2,000 people.
The Anadia Fire Department diverted the wine to stop it from contaminating the nearby Certima River, reported USA Today on Monday, citing local media.
The wine then flowed into a nearby field, reported the New York Post.
A basement in a home near the distillery was flooded with wine, the newspaper quoted firefighters as saying.
Levira Distillery, in a statement posted on Facebook on Monday, said it “deeply regret the incident” and that the cause of the incident is being investigated by the authorities.
No injuries have been reported, it added.
The distillery also said that it takes “full responsibility” for the costs associated with the damage cleanup and repair.
The New York Post cited the distillery as saying that the wine-soaked soil at the field has been taken to a special treatment plant.
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