700,000 people remain without power and water in Sao Paulo three days after the hurricane

Three days after a severe storm with heavy rain and winds exceeding 103 kilometers per hour hit Sao Paulo last Friday afternoon and killed seven people, parts of Brazil’s largest city were left without power this Monday morning and water, and movement was limited by fallen trees. and pillars on the roads. According to ENEL, the energy concessionaire for São Paulo and 23 other cities in the capital region, it will not be until tomorrow, Tuesday, that the situation will approach normality in most of the capital São Paulo, but problems will still be reported in some regions. a few days.

At 7 a.m. this Monday and 10 a.m. in Lisbon, at least 700,000 properties in the city of Sao Paulo were without power, directly affecting nearly three million of the giant city’s 12 million residents. Since the power went out on Friday the 3rd at the beginning of the month, many families have since lost the purchases they usually make throughout the month when they receive their paychecks, and local markets, also without power, have been doing business over the weekend promotions. .with food products that require refrigeration and begin to spoil.

Without power, the pumping stations of Sabesp, the concessionaire that supplies water to millions of Sao Paulo residents, were unable to supply water to parts of the city, and for the same reason, buildings were also unable to deliver water to apartments. . Due to the lack of electricity and the fall of antenna towers, most of the metropolis was left without Internet and telephone services this Monday, which further increased the suffering of families.

Several areas of the city are still in chaos this Monday, with giant trees crossing important roads and power poles and wires everywhere. City officials and firefighters are working hard to cut down the trees, but they are primarily dependent on the arrival of ENEL technicians to check whether the wires they dragged as they fell are still live, creating a vicious circle that further irritates residents. I don’t know who to contact anymore since the city council and concessionaires’ emergency numbers have been switched off since Friday.

In total, according to the latest data from firefighters, 1,281 trees fell during the hurricane in Sao Paulo, hundreds of poles and kilometers of wires were uprooted, which caused the death of seven people, since all the victims were hit by trees. or walls covered by their collapse. As of Monday, at least 125 of those trees had not yet been removed, and many others continued to cause headaches as they remained piled on sidewalks or roads awaiting final removal, limiting mobility.

In their homes and apartments, in addition to the lack of electricity and water, many residents of Brazil’s largest city were faced with other personal or family dramas that, in some cases, put lives at risk. Residents with severe illnesses connected to home respirators or other medical equipment had to be moved to the homes of relatives or friends where there was electricity, and people using medications that must be stored at low temperatures were careful not to lose them by buying ice or seeking help. to the solidarity of third parties.