Portugal cancels more than 300 flights, shuts schools due to Storm Charles

More than 300 flights in and out of Portugal have been cancelled, while businesses and all schools nationwide shut down before Storm Charles hit the country’s mainland, but the heavy rainfall and intense winds passed without causing severe damage. Operations shut down on Wednesday across four different international airports, as well as hundreds of supermarkets and all non-essential public services across the country.

For the first time in living memory, about 8,000 of Portugal’s schools cancelled classes over the significant Atlantic storm forecast. Streets were largely deserted when Storm Charles arrived, because the government had told people to stay at home, fearing the worst.

A national supermarket chain closed its stores, while the Web Summit technology conference in Lisbon, attended by about 70,000 people, called off the day’s events. 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.