A cyclone in Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil has left at least three dead and five missing.

An extratropical cyclone that formed off the coast of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul in the far south of the country on Thursday and intensified this Friday has killed at least three people, left five more missing and left a large trail of destruction. in dozens of cities, some of which received more than 240 mm of rain in a few hours. In Tramandai, one of the largest cities in the state and also one of the hardest hit cities, winds exceeded 200 km per hour, knocking down rooftops, knocking down trees and poles, and causing heavy rain to enter countless buildings through windows.

The three deaths, confirmed early Friday afternoon, occurred in São Leopoldo, in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, and in São Sebastián do Caí. In San Leopoldo, a 23-year-old young man died when he was electrocuted by a strong electric shock while walking along a flooded street in search of a safe place. In São Sebastian do Cay, two members of the city council of the neighboring city of Riozinho were killed when their car was swept away by flooding.

In at least two towns, Sapiranga and Capao da Canoa, the wounded could not be treated because the local hospitals were flooded by heavy rain that was driven by the wind through the windows and forced the evacuation of all the people who were injured. already hospitalized.. In Makina, a heavily affected city on the north coast of Rio Grande do Sul, local mayor Joao Marcos Bassani dos Santos on Thursday evening began frantically urging the population to leave the city, or at least leave home, and tried to find shelter in some elevated part of the district, since, as it turned out, the city council did not have enough firefighters or city authorities to help in such a serious and large-scale situation.

Winds and incessant rains hit mainly the extreme south and coast of the state, as well as the valleys of the rivers Kai, Paranhana, Sinos and Takuari, as well as, constantly and intensively, the Porto Alegre metropolitan area. There were over 20 places in this city this Friday that were completely impassable, either due to the amount of water on the streets or falling trees, and more than 350,000 homes were left without power, which made things even more depressing.

In Santo António da Patrolha, 70 elderly people had to be rushed out of their home on Thursday evening due to the large amount of rainwater that got there. The situation in some cities, completely flooded, was so severe that local leaders could not even resort to the usual solution of turning schools and other public buildings into temporary shelters, since most of them were flooded.

Across the state, dozens of roads, including the BR 116 highway connecting with the rest of Brazil, were completely or partially blocked at several points, and bridges were blown away by wind or flooding formed under them. By the end of this Friday, the cyclone should begin to lose strength moving towards the ocean, but the bad weather will continue, according to Civil Protection.