Leslie Slams Portugal As Post-Tropical Cyclone

Trees lay on damaged homes in Portugal, where people are beginning clean-up after what was left of Hurricane Leslie struck the European country. Image: Fábio Félix / Meteo Trás os Montes

Leslie slammed into Portugal as a potent Post Tropical Cyclone, battering the European west coast with winds as high as 110mph. Meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, FL had been keeping their European peers up-to-date as Hurricane Leslie approached Europe in recent days. The storm has lingered over the Atlantic for weeks in various strengths and shapes but finally stormed to Portugal on Saturday. Leslie moved east Sunday across the Iberian Peninsula to Spain, where officials had issued weather warnings for heavy rains and damaging winds there.

National Hurricane Center tracked Leslie for weeks across the central Atlantic. Image: NHC

In Portugal, pictures are being shared of substantial damage to structures near the coast there. The Associated Press reports that 27 people were injured in the storm. There have been no reports of missing or dead as of this reporting.

Pictures being shared in social media show toppled trees, crushed cars, and blown-out windows. Officials report that more than 300,000 without power in Portugal, including in the cities of Lisbon and Porto.