Charles Leaves the Mainland Without a Red Warning After 538 Incidents and 360 Cancelled Flights: What Thursday Holds
IPMA has lifted the last red warning on the mainland, and the state of alert ends at midnight. Civil protection counted 538 incidents by noon, 360 flights were cancelled and a dozen people were rehoused in Palmela. Thursday brings showers but no warning above yellow.
Depression Charles has left mainland Portugal without a single red warning. In its latest update, the Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA, the national weather service) lowered Faro, the last district on red, to orange for wind until 18:00. All that remains is an orange warning for rough seas in Lisbon, Setúbal, Beja and Faro until 21:00, which drops to yellow until 03:00 on Thursday. IPMA has set no orange or red warning anywhere on the mainland for Thursday 12 November.
The storm did less than feared. As IPMA meteorologist Patrícia Gomes explained to Lusa, it split into two weaker cores on its way from Madeira, one heading for Lisbon and the other along the Algarve coast. Here is how the day went, and what to expect tomorrow. For the warning map as it stood this morning, see our 11:00 report.
The day in numbers
The figures below are the authorities' own, as reported by Lusa (carried by Notícias ao Minuto and RTP).
- 538 incidents on the mainland between midnight and noon, mostly in the Lisbon and Setúbal districts, according to the national commander of the Autoridade Nacional de Emergência e Proteção Civil (ANEPC, the civil protection authority), Mário Silvestre. He called the total normal for the conditions.
- 275 incidents in Lisbon city since midnight, logged by the city's fire brigade (Regimento de Sapadores Bombeiros), 75 of them still open at 16:30 and none with casualties. Most were floods in private buildings, from blocked gutters and damaged roofs.
- 360 flights cancelled by 11:00 at Lisbon, Madeira, Faro and Porto airports, most of them in Lisbon, ANA said.
- 12 people rehoused in Palmela (Setúbal district), where water came through the roofs of three homes that the council says can no longer be lived in.
- 320 incidents in Madeira between 20:00 on Tuesday and 17:00 today, according to the regional civil protection service. A man of about 80 swept away by a stream in São Roque, Funchal, was rescued alive.
Rail was hit too. At 15:30 CP said the Beira Baixa line was cut between Santa Margarida and Tramagal, in the Santarém district, by a landslide, and part of a Lisbon commuter service was suspended. In Porto, civil protection logged 11 incidents, mostly water leaks and minor flooding.
Thursday: back to normal, with repairs
The mainland state of alert (situação de alerta) runs until 23:59 tonight. The Minister of Internal Administration, Luís Neves, said it is not expected to be extended, and that the country should be back to normal on Thursday, with repair work still under way.
IPMA's city forecasts for Thursday show showers almost everywhere on the mainland, with a high of about 21°C in Lisbon. There are no warnings above yellow.
What to do now
- Check before you travel. Ask your airline whether your flight is running before you leave for the airport, as ANA advises, and check CP for the Beira Baixa line. CP passengers on cancelled trains can ask for a full refund or a free change to another train of the same type.
- Keep off the coast tonight. Orange sea warnings remain until 21:00, with waves of 5 to 7 metres and maximum heights of up to 13 metres. ANEPC's public warning still applies until the alert ends.
- Record any damage. Photograph it before you clear it up and report it to your insurer within the deadline in your contract (eight days if the contract sets none). Our guide to the insurance regulator's advice explains how.
- Hiking in Madeira: the regional forest service (IFCN) is keeping all 41 official walking routes closed on Thursday while it checks access and ground conditions.
The latest warnings are on IPMA's warnings page.
