The forecast of an approaching storm puts thousands of firefighters and police officers in Sao Paulo on high alert.

The predicted arrival of a powerful tropical storm this Saturday with heavy rain and winds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour has forced the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous, to put tens of thousands of firefighters, police and medical workers on standby. areas of energy, healthcare and transport. The forecast is for winds to begin to hit mid-afternoon local time, early evening in Lisbon, followed by heavy rain soon after.

Civil defense has put 15,000 firefighters and agents on maximum alert, the military police responsible for public safety have also gone into maximum preventive mode, and utility concessionaire ENEL has come under fire for rolling power outages in the city and for delays in responding to complaints , it sent a statement to millions of consumers saying that all of its 17,000 employees were on emergency duty, both technicians working on the street and maintenance staff in public contact channels. Since Saturday morning, representatives of the governments of the city of Sao Paulo, the metropolitan area, the state government and other authorities have been meeting in the crisis office to try to provide a more flexible response to the expected problems. than what they gave during the storm that hit the region earlier this month.

On the third day of last year, eight people died during a severe storm in Sao Paulo, which had wind speeds of 103 km per hour and rainfall exceeding 100 mm in a short period of time. During the storm, 1,281 trees fell or were uprooted by the wind, taking down power poles and wires, blocking countless streets and avenues, and leaving 3.7 million properties without power at the worst time, including homes, businesses, businesses and even hospitals. For thousands of them, electricity was restored only a week later.

Therefore, special measures were taken to avoid disruptions and damage this Saturday in places such as hospitals, airports, train stations and subways, among others of public interest, and emergency teams were dispersed to strategic points at least according to official information. information. Outdoor events expected to draw large crowds have been canceled and the public is receiving messages on their cell phones warning of the risks and promoting measures everyone can take to protect themselves if the storm gets this severe , as was expected.