River of Red Wine Seen Flooding Village in Portugal

Videos of red wine flowing through the streets of a Portuguese village after a distillery accident went viral on Monday, garnering millions of views online.

The incident took place in a small village near Sao Lourenco do Bairro, situated near the coast roughly 240 kilometers north of Lisbon. Two tanks of red wine operated by a local distillery, Levira, burst, causing roughly 2.2 million liters of beverage to pour out and into nearby streets, around the same amount that can be held by an Olympic swimming pool.

An environmental alert was issued in response to the incident, with locals expressing concern that the wine could contaminate a nearby river, according to a report from the Telegraph. Local authorities reported that the flood was successfully diverted away from the river and into a nearby field, the soil from which is being taken for treatment.

In the wake of the incident, a clip of the red wine flood began to circulate on social media sites, garnering over 4 million views alone on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. In the clip, the stream of dark red liquid can be seen flowing down a small-town street like a river, with the flow maintaining its strength and volume for nearly a minute.

One post from the account Pop Crave was viewed over 4 million times by the late afternoon on Monday. Another, shared by a user going by "Massimo," garnered an additional 1.5 million views.

"A definitely different type of flood," the user wrote. "A river of red wine flows through São Lourenco do Bairro in Portugal when the local distillery's 2.2 million liter tanks burst. Anadia Fire Department blocked the flood diverting it away from the river into a field."

Newsweek reached out to local authorities via email for comment.

In a statement following the incident, the Levira distillery apologized for the damage caused by the flood and took full responsibility.

"The causes of the incident are being investigated by the competent authorities," the statement read. "We are fully committed to covering the costs associated with cleaning up and repairing the damage, with teams ready to act immediately. We are committed to resolving this situation as quickly as possible."

A similar incident took place in early 2020 in the village of Settecani, Italy, in which a local distillery's product was accidentally fed into the public water supply, causing area taps to emit a mixture of wine and water. Approximately 1,000 liters of wine were estimated to have leaked.

Update 09/11/23 3:41 p.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.