Read today's Portuguese stories delivered to your email Twenty-one roads in the district of Santarém are partially or totally obstructed due to the rain, the District Civil Protection Commission reported today which has the Special Emergency Plan for Floods in the Tagus Basin active Among the affected roads are the Estrada do Campo de Alqueidão in Azambuja which is the municipality in the district most affected by the rains there are obstructions on Rua Pinhal da Casa Estrada do Paul Marinhais and the intersection of Estrada Municipal 581 the EN 119 (next to the Amieira road) and the Passagem Entre-Águas remain submerged as does the Quinta da Broa – Golegã and Golegã – Azinhaga Municipal Path interventions are concentrated in the Setil Tunnel and in Torres Novas the Municipal Road (EM) 570 (Riachos) remains obstructed The municipality of Abrantes reports problems at the Canoeing Station and in Constância the municipal road Tramagal – Santa Margarida and around 20% of the municipal parking remain inaccessible In the municipality of Vila Nova da Barquinha the pier at Almourol Castle remains submerged "it is expected that the flows released into the Tagus River by its tributaries will remain high in the coming days" also stating that "the flow rate" of the Sorraia River and its tributaries is expected to rise Civil Defense called on the population to remove agricultural and industrial equipment and vehicles from flood-prone areas and not cross roads or flooded areas with vehicles or on foot The Special Emergency Plan activated on 10th March following the bad weather recorded in mainland Portugal foresees a set of actions to assist the populations in the event of flooding in the bed of the Tagus River and the publication of statements on the evolution of the situation We appreciate that not everyone can afford to pay for our services but if you are able to we ask you to support The Portugal News by making a contribution – no matter how small You can change how much you give or cancel your contributions at any time Send us your comments or opinion on this article Reaching over 400,000 people a week with news about Portugal BRIDGEWATER – A group from Portugal’s Salvaterra de Magos Professional School (EPSM) didn’t just earn the top prize at Luso American Development Foundation’s Atlantic Junior Award competition; they won a trip to the United States and the chance to contribute to the preservation and improvement of the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula The five EPSM students and one teacher were in Massachusetts from Oct 1 to 8 to visit places of scientific interest including the Museum of Science and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Cape Cod NOOA Aquarium at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy “This has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Rodrigo Belas There are many new things in the United States and different ways of thinking.” the winning team is composed of 12th graders Martim Cardoso Gonçalo Teixeira and their instructor José Carvalho Launched by Luso American Development Foundation (FLAD) and Ciência Viva the Atlantic Junior Award is aimed at secondary and professional schools throughout Portugal distinguishing scientific projects focused on the Atlantic and the sustainable use of its resources the EPSM team created an autonomous surface vehicle powered by solar energy to help preserve and improve the natural conditions of the Tagus River and lead to a preventive intervention in the Ribatejo plains “Our vehicle was placed in the real environment in the Tagus River,” the teacher told O Jornal “We used jet skis next to the vehicle to prove that it was unsinkable despite the waves created temperature and water transparency parameters of the river.” Equipped with a GPS system that is monitored at long range their prototype is camouflaged and unmanned to blend in with the landscape and contribute to the preservation of the natural environment and species habitat “The idea now is to further develop the equipment and place it in a real setting in our area so that we can have access to some data and conduct some studies,” Carvalho said the EPSM team also won equipment and materials worth 2,000 euros (about $ 1940) for their school The contending projects were evaluated by a jury made up of professors which provides financial support for the competition which organizes training sessions for the teachers who coordinate the finalist teams “The teams identified real problems and sought technological solutions in clear interaction with the surrounding community applied previously acquired knowledge and developed new technical skills to build and validate the prototypes built,” said FLAD Administrator and member of the jury Elsa Henriques in a prepared statement said one of the goals of this competition is to begin to awaken among youth the taste for engineering geared to monitoring and promoting sustainable use of the ocean “We hope to remind young people that the Atlantic despite geographically separating continents creates bridges between the communities living in the Atlantic basin,” she said in a prepared statement “The Junior Atlantic Award will be a contribution to the strengthening of these bridges.” the team had the opportunity to speak about their project with Dr a Professor of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering and staff at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution “The feedback was very positive,” said Carvalho Their itinerary was coordinated by FLAD with the assistance of João Caixinha Coordinator for the Portuguese Language Programs and Education Affairs in the United States unique experience that we will never forget,” said Cardoso “We had the pleasure of meeting such great people All the places we visited were fantastic.” Lameira said he particularly enjoyed visiting the Museum of Science where he didn’t expect to find so many interactive experiences matching his own interests “It offers lots of dynamic opportunities with many things for us to experience,” he said Rainho said he particularly enjoyed the visit to Taunton High School where his team had the opportunity to interact with students “It’s completely different from everything we are used to,” he said about the school and work more individually on their projects They have resources that we unfortunately don’t have We were quite impressed with their TV studio and electronic labs.” The visiting students were equally impressed with Bridgewater State University where they were lodged at the Barry House and visited the Watershed Lab and Observatory “It’s a huge campus,” said Rainho about the 270-plus acre campus “It has everything; there’s no need for you to leave to get anything We have nothing like it in Portugal.” The students said they were taken aback by how many Portuguese live in this area “We were really impressed,” Rainho said “We didn’t expect so many people to speak Portuguese.” the students also said they are getting a lot out of this experience more than just experiencing scientific advances and the hugeness of America and we’ll remember them for life,” Rainho said da Silva may be reached at ldasilva@ojornal.com To read more stories about the Portuguese-speaking community in English and Portuguese This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page.