LISBON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Airlines cancelled more than 200 flights in and out of Portugal, while schools and hundreds of supermarkets and businesses closed on Wednesday as Storm Charles made landfall, bringing heavy downpours and gale-force winds.
Although the storm was less severe than initially expected, the government, criticised for its slow response to a succession of storms in January and February, had taken pre-emptive steps, putting all emergency services and army units on alert, cancelling classes, shutting non-essential public services and advising people to stay indoors.
Portugal's weather serviceIPMA said the eye of the storm had split in two over the Atlantic, diminishing its strength when it arrived via the southern Algarve region. It was expected to reach most of southern Portugal and the Lisbon region through late afternoon.
Civil Protection Commander Mario Silvestre said authorities were maintaining high alert levels for flash floods,wind and rough seas after registering538 incidents since midnight.
Storm Charles had already swept through the Madeira archipelago, causing some flooding and felling trees. Emergency services rescued a man swept away when water flooded his garage on the island of Madeira, but no casualties were reported.
Since Sunday, Portugal andneighbouring Spain have beenpummelled by heavy rains brought by StormBruna, with flooding reported in several areas including road tunnels in Lisbon, which were mostly shut on Wednesday.
The new storm was expected to reach southwestern Spain on Wednesday afternoon, with the country's weather service AEMET warning of "serious or very serious" impact from heavy rain, strong winds and rough seas that could exacerbate conditions caused by StormBruna.
In central Spain, authorities maintained the evacuation of more than 3,000 people in Piedralaves, whom they removed from their homes on Tuesdaydue to the risk of a local dam overflowing, andwarned that rainfall was expected to intensify from midday.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip, Sergio Goncalves and Miguel PereiraEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
