LISBON, Portugal: Portugal closed all schools and shuttered non-essential public services on Wednesday as a major Atlantic storm barreled into the country’s mainland, but the bad weather passed without causing major damage.
Streets were largely deserted when Storm Charles arrived, because the government had told people to stay at home, fearing the worst, though the winds and rain that battered the country weren’t as destructive as expected.
It was the first time in living memory that Portugal’s roughly 8,000 schools had canceled classes nationwide over a storm forecast.
More than 300 flights at four international airports were canceled due to the driving rain and high winds, authorities said.
The national weather agency, IPMA, recorded wind gusts of over 120 kph (75 mph) in some areas.
Buses without passengers drove through the country’s capital, Lisbon, where some streets flooded due to clogged drains. A national supermarket chain closed its stores, while an international technology conference in Lisbon attended by around 70,000 people called off the day’s events.
The storm didn’t pack as big a punch as authorities had feared, however, and by mid-afternoon only the southern Algarve region, a popular European tourist destination, remained on red alert, the highest level of emergency warning which initially had covered more than half of the country.
