Looking back at my post Waiting for Rain from almost ten years ago, I feel immense gratitude and amazement to be looking out over a full lake and a lush landscape. Even though the weeks of intense rain and storms earlier this year brought big challenges and widespread destruction in Portugal, there is wonder and excitement to have this much water held in the land, gradually sinking into the earth.

During years of drought, we made a focused effort to increase the water-holding capacity of the land. We built two dams. We made terraces and swales, observing the water flows and adjusting them each winter. And we planted thousands of trees and shrubs to help hold soils on our steep slopes and soften the fall of strong rains onto the earth. We installed more water storage tanks to store the winter rains and help us through the summers.

An area of swales, terraces and young trees

I also prayed for rain, did rituals and ceremonies, installed weather-balancing devices…. And measured every drop that fell.

Maybe it worked, as in winter of 2024/25 we finally had a really good amount of rain, and our big lake filled higher than it had done before. After the summer evaporations and dryness, the water table was already much higher than it had been in the drought years. November and December of 2025 were rainy months, and already the land had started to fill. January was even wetter – with 19 days of rain and 270 mm (the average rainfall for this area is around 600 mm per year). By now the land was becoming saturated, the stream was flowing strongly, and it was not always possible to cross.

There were a few sunny days to dry things out a bit before February kicked off with even more rain…. With 250 mm in the first week of February alone, including 100 mm in one day, with strong winds. With the land already saturated, water started flowing everywhere, the lake filled very quickly,  the road was partially washed away and the valley flooded. Still more rain fell, and we even started emptying water from the lake so it would not overfill. In between the storms we experienced atmospheric rivers of continual rain moving horizontally down the valley, drenching everything. Mould and rust started growing everywhere.

Flooding in the valley

These first two weeks of February were a pause in the usual routines of life. Many were stuck in their homes due to floods, fallen trees and destroyed roads. It became easier to walk to the village than to drive, unless the water was too high to even cross the stream on foot. This powerful expression of water became a time for meditating and surrendering to the sheer power of the water element. I felt this rain was washing away the old and inviting in the new. It was also fun, exciting and nourishing to go for rainy walks, make bridges and ford streams.

Then the rain stopped, the floodwaters receded, the sun appeared, spring suddenly arrived, and activity could resume – planting, clearing, and mending the damage.

Local people say they had not seen this much rain for around 35 years.

I am glad we used the dry years to prepare for this rare rain event, creating spaces to store water, infiltrate the water table, and allow the land to be nourished and regenerate.