The Portuguese town of Levira in Portugal saw its streets flooded with red wine over the weekend as two tanks holding nearly 2.2 million litres of wine at a local distillery burst on Sunday, The Guardian reported.
Several videos of the incident posted online showed the river of wine gushing down the streets of the town in central Portugal. The quantity of the wine that flowed was almost enough to fill an Olympic size swimming pool.
How did the wine flow out into the streets?
The CEO of the distillery, Destilaria Levira, in the Portuguese municipality of Anadia, Pedro Carvalho told the New York Times that one tank, which was open at the top, collapsed due to a “structural failure”. The magnanimous force from the wine that tank knocked over another tank, causing the wine from both tanks to flow out of the distillery and into the streets. Carvalho said the cause of the collapse is being investigated by the authorities.
He added that the spill lasted for no more than an hour, however, it did not leave any strong smell behind as the wine was of “good quality”.
The distillery took to Facebook to say that it regretted the incident and that it took “full responsibility for the costs associated with damage cleanup and repair”. “We’re committed to resolving this situation as soon as possible,” he added.
The wine flooded nearby lands and at least one cellar, The Guardian reported citing local media. Local firefighters helped clean up the wine. All that could be collected was taken away to a wastewater treatment plant. The wine was also prevented from pouring into a river, preventing an environmental disaster, Jornal de Notícias quoted a local council member as saying.