Incredible Footage Shows 600,000 Gallons of Red Wine Flood Streets of Small Town in Portugal

The small coastal town of São Lorenco de Bairro in Portugal briefly resembled something straight out of a biblical plague or Stephen King's The Shining over the weekend, when a veritable river of red wine was sent spilling through the streets.

The wine came from the nearby Levira Distillery after two tanks containing 2.2 million liters of red wine—or, 600,000 gallons—reportedly broke open on Sunday, according to the New York Post. Viral video footage has since made its way online, showing the jaw-dropping river of wine that went gushing down a steep hill, shocking locals. São Lorenco de Bairro is home to approximately 2,000 residents.

To put it in context, the amount of red wine spilled could have filled an Olympic-size swimming pool.

However, it also triggered an environmental alert, as officials had to quickly find a way to divert the wine from spilling into the nearby Certima River. The Anadia Fire Department was able to block off the flood and instead have it run into a nearby field. The wine-soaked soil was subsequently removed from the field and taken to a special treatment plant.

Levira Distillery, which helped dredge up the wine-soaked earth, has since apologized for the incident.

"We assume full responsibility for the costs associated with cleaning and repairing the damage, having teams do so immediately," the distillery said in a statement. "We are committed to resolving this situation as quickly as possible."