Carlos Milho and Maria Rodrigues brought back a newspaper reporting the tragedy. Their family, friends and home were all spared. (Picture by Tom Tardif, 0927982)

The couple, who run La Creperie restaurant in Smith Street, were spending a month in the Portuguese island visiting friends and family. They own a house in Gaula, Santa Cruz, an area away from the island’s rivers.

‘There was so much rain,’ said Mrs Rodrigues, 42. ‘We knew the weather was bad, but not that bad.

‘We didn’t know what had happened until we went to visit my mother and she was watching the news with all these bad pictures,’ said Mr Milho, 44.

Earlier that day, the couple had given an elderly woman a lift to her home. She was in tears because she could not get to her house. It was only when they saw the news they realised why she was crying.

‘I feel happy that we gave her a lift,’ she said. ‘If we hadn’t, I would not like to think what could have happened to her.’

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