Rain and strong winds left parts of Sao Paulo without electricity and water

Heavy rain and winds of more than 80 kilometers per hour, which were felt on Saturday evening in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo early this Sunday on the Portuguese mainland, led to the collapse of slopes and walls, leaving several cities without electricity and water, including several neighborhoods of the capital, Sao Paulo, but they did not have the expected impact and did not lead to loss of life. Wind speeds were forecast to exceed 100 kilometers per hour and more rain, but the menacing storm, which was expected to be devastating, lost strength en route from southern Brazil to Sao Paulo.

This Sunday, thousands of people were left without electricity in areas of the western zones of the city of São Paulo, such as Butantan, and the southern ones, such as Morumbi, Santo Amaro and Vila Andrade, but the concessionaire ENEL did not provide electricity. exact number. Several neighborhoods also experienced water shortages, but in this case due to a lack of electricity, which prevented pumps from operating either at the pumping stations of the Sabesp concessionaire or in the buildings.

At least 100 trees fell during heavy rains early this morning in the capital Sao Paulo, taking down power lines and poles and injuring at least two people driving past on Avenida das Nacoes Unidas in the south of the country. zone, but not seriously, despite the fact that the car was practically destroyed. The damage caused to the city by the falling of these trees was significant, but it is far from the destruction caused by the strong hurricane that hit São Paulo on the 3rd, when winds of up to 103 kilometers per hour knocked down 1,281 trees, blocking Main Streets and prospectuses. They destroyed some electrical wiring and left millions of people without power in some neighborhoods for up to a week, given the scale of the damage and the concessionaire’s difficulty responding to all requests for reconnection.

If the expected storm predicted for this Saturday did not hit the city of São Paulo much, the same cannot be said about the other cities in the state of São Paulo that it encountered along its path. For example, in Itapeva, 298 km from Sao Paulo, the wind was so strong that it tore the roofs off many buildings, including a hangar at the local airport, causing them to fly away and damage at least seven small planes and huge tiles. covering the area, damaged numerous nearby houses.

In Ubatuba, a famous beach on Sao Paulo’s northern coast, heavy rain has been falling since midday, flooding streets and causing trees to fall, but there, too, there had been no news of any casualties until this Sunday. The strongest gusts of wind in the state were recorded in the city of Orinhos, in the south of the state, with a speed of 87 km per hour, and in the capital São Paulo they reached 71 km per hour, measurements taken at Congonhas airport, in the southern zone, which reached the point of having to suspend landings and takeoffs until the wind and rain subside.

The strength of the hurricane earlier this month, which killed eight people, forced authorities to take precautionary measures on Saturday, perhaps even exaggerated, to avoid being caught off guard again and facing a new wave of criticism. Within a week, alerts began to come in about serious risks to the physical integrity and even the lives of residents, and the governments of the city, nearby cities, the state and representatives of concessionaires, firefighters, police and civil protection created a crisis cabinet. who began the standing meeting early on Saturday morning, expecting another picture of devastation, which fortunately did not materialize.