Portugal closes schools and public services as Storm Charles nears

Portugal closed all schools and non-essential public services on 11 November as Storm Charles approached the mainland. The government told people to stay home ahead of expected heavy rain and rough seas.

About 8,000 schools canceled classes because of the forecast. Hundreds of supermarkets and businesses also closed as the storm made landfall with heavy rain and gale-force winds.

Al Jazeera said more than 300 flights into and out of Portugal were canceled and operations shut down at 4 international airports. Reuters, cited by The Guardian, gave an earlier figure of more than 200 canceled flights.

Storm weakened before reaching mainland, Portugal’s weather service says

Portugal’s weather service, IPMA, said the storm’s eye split in two over the Atlantic, weakening it before it arrived through the southern Algarve region. Al Jazeera said the heavy rain and intense winds passed over the mainland without causing severe damage.

Coastal gusts of up to 140 kilometers per hour had been forecast, with the strongest impact expected on the Atlantic coast during the afternoon and evening of 11 November. IPMA recorded gusts above 120 kilometers per hour in some areas.

Charles had struck Madeira on 10 November with winds of 130 kilometers per hour. Emergency services rescued a man swept away when water flooded his garage on the island; no casualties were reported.

By mid-afternoon on 11 November, only Algarve remained under red alert, the highest emergency warning level, after the alert had initially covered more than half the country. Civil Protection Commander Mario Silvestre said authorities were maintaining high alerts for flash floods, wind and rough seas after registering 538 incidents since midnight.

Interior Minister Luis Neves rejected suggestions that authorities had overreacted, saying the government organized its response in line with the weather forecast.

Conference canceled a day as Spain faced warnings

Web Summit organizers canceled the second day of the Lisbon technology conference on government advice. The conference was attended by around 70,000 people. Organizers said the advice cited risks of tidal flooding, severe disruption to public transport and high winds affecting outdoor structures.

Portugal and neighboring Spain had already experienced heavy rain and flooding from Storm Bruna. Several Lisbon road tunnels affected by flooding were mostly closed on 11 November.

In central Spain, authorities maintained the evacuation of more than 3,000 people from Piedralaves. Residents had been moved on 10 November because a local dam risked overflowing. Spain’s weather service, AEMET, warned of serious or very serious impacts from heavy rain, strong winds and rough seas as Charles was expected to reach southwestern Spain on the afternoon of 11 November.

Web Summit organizers said they were monitoring conditions with authorities and emergency services and expected the conference to resume on 12 November.