Lisbon goes on red alert at midday

Lisbon goes on red alert at midday, as Storm Charles arrives on the back of Monday night’s flooding. It’s Wednesday, 11 November. Nineteen degrees. Air quality: 20 to 40 (Good). Here’s what you need to know.

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STORM CHARLES PUTS LISBON ON RED ALERT FROM MIDDAY

Monday night’s rain was a warm-up. Between midnight and 6am on Tuesday, Lisbon’s firefighters logged 130 weather-related call-outs, mostly flooded homes and streets, and floodwater closed part of the Segunda Circular ring road near the Estádio da Luz. Mayor Carlos Moedas put the total for the night at 304. Storm Charles is expected to hit harder.

IPMA, the national weather service, has put the Lisbon district under a red warning, its highest level, for wind from midday until 9pm today, with Setúbal from 9am. Eight mainland districts are on red, from Leiria down to Faro, along with Madeira. Gusts could reach 120 km/h (75 mph), and 140 km/h (87 mph) in exposed spots. If a “sting jet” forms, a sudden blast of air dropping out of the storm, they could top 150 km/h (93 mph). The centre of the storm is expected to pass between Sines and Cabo Carvoeiro in the afternoon, putting Lisbon and Setúbal in its path, and waves of 5 to 7 metres are forecast on the coast. An IPMA forecaster said a repeat of Storm Kristin, which caused deaths and widespread damage in January, can’t be ruled out.

Much of the city has shut for the day. The government has declared a state of alert across mainland Portugal until 11:59pm tonight and closed schools and non-essential public services. Lisbon has closed its tunnels, parks, gardens and cultural venues, including São Jorge Castle, the Padrão dos Descobrimentos, the Roman Theatre and the Fado Museum, and national museums and monuments are closed too, with tickets already bought for them refundable or open to rebooking. The Metro is running, but long-distance coach services have been suspended for the day. Both Tagus bridges are limited to 60 km/h (37 mph), with motorbikes and soft-top vehicles strongly advised to stay off them. The bridges’ operator isn’t planning to close them, but the interior minister has said they could shut if gusts reach around 150 km/h. The government has also recommended that Web Summit suspend its programme today, though the final call rests with the organisers.

The official advice is simple. Interior Minister Luís Neves has asked people to stay indoors where possible and avoid unnecessary journeys, and Moedas has said riverside areas should be avoided, with traffic there restricted. The authorities are warning of more flooding, falling trees, power cuts and dangerous conditions on the coast. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro said there was “no reason to panic” but that nobody should underestimate the risks. He says the country is better prepared than it was for Kristin, and the armed forces are on standby to help with drainage and clearing roads. IPMA and Proteção Civil, the civil protection service, will carry the latest warnings through the day.

Bottom line: the official advice is to stay indoors wherever possible today, with the red warning running from midday to 9pm and the storm’s effects expected to carry into Thursday.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Fuel prices have fallen by the most in four years, though they’re still high. Petrol fell by around 9.5 cents a litre on Monday and diesel by around 9 cents, the largest underlying fall since March 2022. It could have been bigger. The Automóvel Clube de Portugal, the national motoring club, had expected cuts of up to 12.5 cents for petrol and 11 cents for diesel, but the government trimmed its temporary discount on fuel tax at the same time. Fuel is still expensive, with a national median price on Monday of €2.21 a litre for diesel and €1.98 for unleaded 95. On a 50-litre tank, the drop works out at about €4.75.

Eating out in Portugal has got far more expensive than everything else. Prices in restaurants and cafés rose by 47.6% between September 2019 and September 2026, nearly double the 24.2% rise in overall inflation, according to the national statistics institute. In Greater Lisbon, restaurant and accommodation prices are up 54% over the same period, against 26% for prices generally. A francesinha ordered through Glovo costs a median €15.95 in Lisbon, according to one consumer site’s “Francesinha Index”. Delivery apps add a premium on top. In one Porto restaurant, the same dish cost €11.50 on its own website and €16 on Glovo.

The Socialists have kept their lead in the latest poll. The weekly Pitagórica tracker for TVI, CNN Portugal and Nascer do Sol puts the Socialists on 29.6%, Chega on 27.3% and the Democratic Alliance, Montenegro’s centre-right coalition, on 22.7%. Asked who they’d prefer as prime minister, respondents put the Socialist leader, José Luís Carneiro, first on 33.5%, ahead of Montenegro on 27.2% and Chega’s André Ventura on 20.6%. The sharpest fall was for the interior minister, Luís Neves, whose net rating dropped nearly 6 points to minus 40.9 in a week of police action at the housing camps in Lisbon and Porto. Sixty-two per cent of respondents think the country is heading in the wrong direction.

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🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

KEFI (ESTRELA)

Kefi means good spirits in Greek, and this café-bistro on Calçada da Estrela was built to be lively. When it opened, the owners said they wanted it noisy, like a taverna in Greece, and that they wouldn’t turn the music down. The room is bright, with big corner windows, whitewashed walls, wooden beams in Aegean blue and some of the prettiest tiled facades in Lisbon just outside.

The food is Greek classics, meant for sharing. The menu has included tzatziki and smoked aubergine dip with warm pita, a Greek salad heavy on feta and capers, tomatoes stuffed with rice, chicken and octopus souvlaki, keftedes meatballs and a moussaka that one critic rated among the best he’d tried. Pickled chillies in Greek olive oil and Kalamata olives make good starters. The owners have said most of their produce comes from Greece, wines and cheese included, and the drinks list has run to Greek beers and retsina, the pine-resin white wine.

Most people spend €20 to €35 a head. Not everything lands, and an early review found the octopus flat and the loukoumades, fried honey doughnuts, let down by shop-bought ice cream. Check live hours before going, and do save it for when the storm has passed.

→ Find them here ←

Insider tip: order several dishes to share between two, which is how the kitchen envisioned the menu to be eaten.

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See you tomorrow morning.

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