Rain warning goes from red to orange in four districts

Ored weather warnings for heavy rain issued to the districts of Leiria, Castelo Branco, Beja and Portalegre in the context of the passage of the depression Charles passed to orange, the second most severe level, early this afternoon.

According to an update from the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) on 13:30, red warnings (the highest of the three levels) for precipitation in force since 12:00 remain active until 18:00 in Lisbon, Setúbal, Santarém and Faro.

The southernmost district of the country is the only one where a red wind warning is also maintained, from 12:00 to 9:00 p.m., with the forecast of “rajadas up to 120 kilometers/hour, and can reach 140 kilometers/hour in the most exposed places”.

Other districts of the South and Center regions were also under red warnings, but a slowdown in forecasts led the IPMA to make changes.

The red warning is issued by the IPMA in cases of extreme risk weather situation, the orange warning indicates a moderate to high risk weather situation and the yellow risk for certain weather-dependent activities.

The depression Charles, which motivated the activation of the alert situation throughout the territory of mainland Portugal from 00:00 to 23:59 today, lost power during the morning and divided into two cores of low pressure, one towards Lisbon and another near the Algarve coast, a region that is being most affected by bad weather, according to IPMA information at the beginning of the afternoon.

The government decided to close non-essential schools and public services in all districts, and more than three hundred flights were cancelled in Lisbon, Faro, Madeira and Porto.

The storm caused more than 200 occurrences of Madeira between Tuesday night and this morning, especially floods, falls of trees and collapses.

On the continent, Civil Protection accounted for more than 500 occurrences of the same gender between 00:00 and 12:00.