Red Wine Floods A Small Town After Winery Tank Explodes

We’re in the middle of hurricane season, which means we’re used to seeing flooded streets in the news. A small town in Portugal is reporting something similar, but this disaster is entirely man-made.

Levira Distillery, a winemaker in São Lourenço do Bairro, Portugal, accidentally painted the town red after two tanks of wine burst on Sunday. Almost 600,000 gallons of wine flowed through the streets—to put it in context, that’s enough wine to fill an Olympic swimming pool.

The spill rendered the streets unusable to the town’s 2,500 residents. Local authorities quickly sprang into action to divert the wine and prevent it from contaminating the nearby Certima River. Volunteer firefighters successfully drained the liquid and transported it to a wastewater treatment plant.

No residents were injured as a result of the spill, but the municipality of Anadia reports damage to the roads and at least one residential basement close to the winery. People on social media, however, argue that the worst part about the spill is all the wasted wine.

One user wrote, "This would have lasted a whole 10 years such a waste." Another lamented, "Good wine down the drain."

Levira Distillery took to social media to publicly apologize for the incident. “Although the incident did not cause any injuries, we want to express our sincere concern for the damage caused in general,” the post reads.

The winemakers have also assumed the financial cost for cleanups and repairs, even deploying some of their staff to assist local authorities.

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