As heavy rain lashes Lisbon, Web Summit’s Wednesday schedule is washed away

If the heavy rain and strong winds were not clear enough indicators that Web Summit was not taking place on Wednesday, perhaps the team of half a dozen men disassembling its front gates brought the message home for the few who had hoped to attend the third day of the technology summit in Lisbon.Or maybe it was the eerily quiet industrial suburbs in the Portuguese capital’s eastern area, with a rather silent road to the arena, interrupted only by the small team of security guards huddling from the rain, occasionally redirecting hopefuls away.A small crowd of German and Polish-speaking men appeared at the would-be entrance shortly before 10am, but soon accepted defeat. With general admission final tickets costing €1,595 and VIPs priced up to €1,950 – not to mention the rare “chairperson” ticketholder who forked out €25,000 – who could really blame them for trying to get their money’s worth? There will be a financial hit from the cancellation. READ MOREThe schedule of events on Wednesday was cancelled on Tuesday afternoon following earlier comments from Lisbon’s mayor, who said “everything indicates” it could not function, and the Portuguese prime minister issuing a recommendation to suspend the day’s events.The country braced for a day in which two storms overlapped, with the southern half of Portugal (including Lisbon) under level red warnings for extreme weather.But not all hope was lost. A saving grace came shortly after 11.30am on Wednesday. “Web Summit is back tomorrow” was the title of the email, sent by the organisers of the technology conference to all its ticket holders.“It will be the busiest Thursday ever with more speakers and more meetups than ever before – with many rescheduled from Wednesday,” the email read, later encouraging attendees to “keep an eye on the schedule later today for updates”.Only 20 minutes beforehand, Web Summit chief executive Paddy Cosgrave broke the news to the organisation’s Slack channel. He wrote the production team had “worked through the night until 3am to make the site safe” and will do so again tonight so “it is perfect for first thing tomorrow morning”.“Literal heroes,” he wrote, prompting some 150 praying emoji reactions, 110 red hearts, 90 clapping hands and 12 crowns.With the nation under a state of alert, a hush of inactivity swept the capital city for much of the day – interrupted only by the odd public bus continuing to service its route, often driving through large puddles and splashing upon empty pavements.Saldanha is an upmarket area in the central suburbs that serves as Lisbon’s big business hub all the while still keeping a posh neighbourhood feel. A spot so popular with Web Summit visitors, its metro stop required a heightened police presence on the platforms to ensure order during the morning rush to the conference.On Wednesday, it was a ghost town, with only two people on its platform, waiting for the metro’s red line that terminates at the airport. They were both carrying suitcases. A couple who appeared to be lost tourists emerged from the elevator, looked utterly confused, and quickly left again.The Vasco da Gama shopping centre (already decorated for Christmas), was a shell of its usual self. Once used as a throughway from the Oriente metro stop to Web Summit’s front gates, it was a slow-moving ocean of thousands on Tuesday morning. Only a day later, neither a tech bro nor a high-street shopper could get their fix.Cosgrave and his Web Summit team will be hoping that it’s business as usual on Thursday, the final day of the annual conference.