600,000 Gallons of Wine Cause Flash Flood in Portugal
Wine flowed freely in Portugal over the weekend.
Two tanks holding nearly 600,000 gallons of wine at a distillery collapsed on Sunday, sending a torrential flood of red wine down the streets of the small town of Levira.
One tank that was open at the top collapsed because of a “structural failure," according to Pedro Carvalho, the chief executive at the distillery called Destilaria Levira. The force of the wine pouring out of the tank took out the supports of another tank, causing the wine to flow from both tanks and into the streets.
The authorities are investigating the cause of the collapse, Mr. Carvalho said.
It "looked like a river," Carvalho said, who also noted there wasn't a strong smell of wine in the air afterward because it was “good quality wine.”
The spill flowed for just under an hour, and the local fire department showed up to help clean up the roads. No injuries were reported.
“We deeply regret the incident that occurred,” the distillery said in a post on Facebook, apologizing for any damage caused to the town and, in particular, a home’s basement.
You think creek or river water is nasty to clean out? Imagine some red wine that ran through the whole town before settling in your basement.
According to the NY Times, the problem just indicates more of the bigger problem in the wine world right now. Portugal, France and Italy all are dealing with an oversupply of wine, because of a decline in both consumption and export. The tanks that collapsed were being used to store surplus wine, according to the distillery.
Sounds like something we're all gonna have to pitch in to help fix.
Read more at NY Times