LISBON — Storm Charles brought destructive weather to the Iberian Peninsula this week, impacting Portugal and southern Spain with heavy rain and strong southwesterly winds. The system first reached the Portuguese island of Madeira before moving to the mainland on Nov. 11.
Funchal airport recorded a wind gust of 84.5 mph, accompanied by rainfall totals of 355mm within a 12-hour period. Air travel across the region experienced significant cancellations. In Lisbon, 183 flights were cancelled on Wednesday, representing approximately one-third of the city's normal daily air traffic. Madrid Barajas airport reported 155 flight cancellations as the storm moved through.
After causing extensive flooding throughout Spain and Portugal, Storm Charles tracked northeast through southern France, triggering notable flooding in parts of Cannes and rock falls that forced the closure of roads along the French Riviera.
The system continued toward northern Italy, prompting the Italian weather service to issue a red rainfall warning, its highest alert level, covering areas from Tuscany to Venezia. Forecasting models indicate further heavy rain is expected in Italy and the Balkans over the coming days, with an additional 100mm likely to accumulate widely and totals nearing 200mm in mountainous areas.
In Canada, successive rounds of heavy rain and strong winds have caused widespread flooding, landslides and disruption across British Columbia over the past week. Between Monday and Friday, severe rainfall and powerful winds left more than 400,000 customers without power. Conditions persisted into the weekend, with further heavy rain cutting power to an additional 135,000 customers.
The region experienced downed trees, flooded roads and landslides. Strong winds were recorded Sunday, with a gust of 72.1 mph on Herbert Island and a 60 mph gust at Victoria international airport. On Wednesday, heavy rain warnings were issued for British Columbia's Vancouver Island and southern coastal areas, with multiple stations recording rainfall totals exceeding 100mm.
The River Forecast Centre issued flood warnings across the south coast, citing ongoing heavy rain and high streamflow as increasing the risk of flash flooding and landslides. An additional area of low pressure is forecast to bring torrential rain and strong winds to the region over the upcoming weekend, with more than 100mm of rain likely across central and southern Vancouver Island on Saturday and wind gusts expected to exceed 60 mph.
