The Portuguese government is moving ahead with plans to better protect Faro from flooding while launching a new study into how the Algarve should deal with the enormous amount of
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The European Parliament approved €489.15 million in financial assistance for Portugal, Spain, Italy and Malta on Wednesday, 21 October, following severe storms and flooding that damaged infrastructure and disrupted communities across southern Europe during the opening months of 2026.
The allocation from the European Union Solidarity Fund was approved by 651 votes to 17, with three abstentions. Portugal will receive the largest share, approximately €261.5 million, followed by Spain with €149.1 million, Italy with €74.9 million and Malta with €3.7 million.
The funding is intended to support recovery operations and help national authorities meet the costs of restoring essential public infrastructure and services damaged by the disasters.
Portugal’s €261.5 million allocation follows flooding and storms that affected the country during January and February.
The Portuguese authorities applied for assistance from the EU Solidarity Fund after assessing the extent of the damage and the associated costs of emergency operations and infrastructure recovery.
The funds will contribute to eligible public expenditure arising from the disasters, potentially including the restoration of transport links, damaged public facilities and other essential infrastructure.
Portugal has already received approximately €65.37 million in advance funding, according to the figures accompanying the parliamentary decision.
Spain will receive €149.1 million following destructive weather during the same period, including severe flooding in February.
The Spanish government had also requested European assistance to cover part of the expenditure associated with recovery operations.
Approximately €37.26 million of Spain’s allocation has already been paid in advance.
The two countries together account for the substantial majority of the assistance approved on Wednesday, reflecting the scale of their eligible recovery costs.
Italy and Malta will receive assistance following Storm Harry, which struck parts of the central Mediterranean in January 2026.
Italy’s allocation amounts to €74.9 million, while Malta will receive €3.7 million.
The storm caused significant disruption in affected Mediterranean areas, with heavy rainfall, strong winds and damaging sea conditions placing pressure on local infrastructure.
Italian authorities sought European support for recovery operations in the affected territories, while Malta submitted its own request following the damage sustained during the storm.
The Maltese allocation includes approximately €931,000 already made available through an advance payment.
The final assistance amounts were proposed by the European Commission after examining the applications submitted by the four governments.
The Commission’s September proposal to mobilise the EU Solidarity Fund set out the amount of assistance required for each country.
The total proposed mobilisation was €489,148,220.
The European Union established the Solidarity Fund in 2002 to assist member states and certain countries participating in the EU accession process following major natural disasters.
The mechanism provides financial support for public emergency and recovery expenditure rather than operating as a general insurance scheme for individuals or businesses.
Eligible expenditure can include emergency accommodation, restoring essential infrastructure, securing protective infrastructure, cleaning disaster-affected areas and protecting cultural heritage.
National authorities submit applications to the Commission, which evaluates them against the relevant eligibility requirements and financial thresholds.
Assistance depends on the assessed disaster damage and applicable regulatory criteria, rather than simply reimbursing every euro of economic loss.
The fund is financed through EU budgetary arrangements and is mobilised following the required institutional approvals.
Payments are made to the countries concerned, which remain responsible for ensuring that assistance is used in accordance with EU financial rules.
The Solidarity Fund can therefore help governments manage exceptional recovery costs, but it does not replace national budgets, private insurance or other financial arrangements.
The latest allocation comes against a background of increasingly frequent demands on European disaster-response mechanisms.
Southern European countries have experienced damaging floods, storms, heatwaves and wildfires in recent years, leading to repeated requests for assistance.
Recovery expenditure extends beyond immediate emergency operations. Damaged roads, bridges, coastal defences, water systems and public buildings can require prolonged reconstruction.
These costs can place considerable pressure on local authorities, particularly where a disaster affects tourism, transport or economic activity.
The EU faces the additional challenge of maintaining sufficient funds to respond to major disasters affecting several countries within a relatively short period.
Extreme weather events can also expose weaknesses in existing infrastructure, prompting governments to consider whether reconstruction should incorporate additional protection against future disasters.
However, such investments must be assessed against the eligible spending categories of the Solidarity Fund and the availability of other EU financing programmes.
Wednesday’s vote represents parliamentary approval of the mobilisation proposed by the European Commission.
The decision concerns disasters that occurred earlier in 2026 and does not constitute a new emergency response operation.
The funds will support eligible recovery measures carried out by the national authorities in the four countries.
The payments already made to Portugal, Spain and Malta will be taken into account when the remaining assistance is disbursed.
EU authorities will retain responsibility for monitoring compliance with the relevant financial and reporting requirements.
The substantial parliamentary majority indicates broad support for assistance to the affected countries, although future disaster-funding arrangements will continue to depend on the resources available in the European budget.
For the four governments, the immediate task is to use the approved assistance to meet eligible recovery costs and restore damaged public infrastructure following the storms earlier this year.
Spain's socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was once again called a "son of a b***h" by a group of fed-up Spaniards during his official visit to the town of Oliva, one of the worst affected by Storm Adam's torrential rain.
The post ‘Son of a B***h!’ Fed-up Spaniards Jeer Socialist Pedro Sánchez During Visit to Flood-hit Town appeared first on Breitbart.
© Mario Tama/Getty Images
Nepal’s government said that the August 26 flood, dubbed the “Himalayan tsunami,” caused physical damage worth $1.8 billion and additional economic losses of more than $900 million, equivalent to about 10% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as it seeks international financing for reconstruction.
Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle presented the estimates on Thursday at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Bangkok, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
RELATED: Nepal River Surge Destroys 40 Homes, Leaves Five Missing
Wagle is seeking international funding for rebuilding and for measures to “avoid or mitigate the impact of future disasters.”
Nearly seven weeks passed between the disaster and Thursday’s accounting. The flood struck on August 26, and the assessment Wagle presented in Bangkok represents the government’s formal reckoning of the economic damage it must now confront.The floods left more than 1,500 people dead and 6,000 missing, causing severe destruction of essential infrastructure, hydropower projects, farmland, fish ponds, food stocks and agricultural infrastructure across the country.
Flash floods along Nepal’s Budhi Gandaki River swept away homes and bridges, forcing residents to flee to higher ground.
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 12, 2026
Five people are missing, and six have been rescued, authorities said. pic.twitter.com/wv7zilln7C
Wagle said Nepal does not intend merely to “replace what was destroyed, but to build better,” with more resilient infrastructure. He said that approach will raise the cost of reconstruction to $5 billion.
The Minister also said Nepal, which he described as “the poorest country in Asia after Afghanistan,” has contributed very little to global warming because of its limited industrialization and low emissions, but “is bearing the worst consequences of climate change.”
Wagle appealed to the “ethical and moral responsibility of countries with greater resources” to support the most vulnerable and called for a model of “global solidarity and cooperation.” “It is not about blaming rich countries, but about making a joint call to action,” he said.
Gorkha, #Nepal
— Hans Solo (@thandojo) October 15, 2026
Damaged houses lie partially submerged in sludge along the banks of the Budhi Gandaki River after a flash #flood caused by a #landslide. Four bridges and dozens of houses were swept away, as well as a construction camp for a hydropower project pic.twitter.com/vui6RyJocr
The disaster originated high in the Himalayas. A glacial and rocky mass covering two square kilometers broke away from Langtang Lirung mountain at an altitude of 5,200 meters. The ensuing flood also swept into the Chinese region of Tibet.
The scale of the threat extends beyond a single event. A recent study in Scientific Reports warns that roughly 300,000 people in Nepal live in river channels susceptible to flooding. Construction in those vulnerable zones grew by almost 50 percent between 2016 and 2023, a pattern that multiplies the risk to communities as extreme weather becomes more frequent.
Nepal’s appeal arrives as climate-linked disasters mount across South Asia, a region where economies least responsible for global emissions face some of the steepest recovery costs. For a country that contributes a negligible share of greenhouse gases, the $5 billion reconstruction bill amounts to a burden imposed largely by forces beyond its control.
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Thousands gathered at Baiturrahman Grand Mosque in Banda Aceh on August 15, 2026, to commemorate 21 years of peace between Indonesia and the separatist Free Aceh Movement, or GAM. Some participants raised GAM’s red, black and white crescent-star flag and chanted “Free Aceh,” while others lowered Indonesia’s national flag and replaced it with the former […]
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According to Nepal's Disaster Management Authority, at least 639 people remain trapped at damaged hydropower facilities.
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