Storm rain and strong wind One person died, 1.1 million people were left without power and 49 cities were affected in the earthquake that has shaken the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre since Tuesday night, authorities reported on Wednesday. In the latest bulletin of the Civil Defense of the Río Grande do Sul province, on the border of Argentina and Uruguay, it was stated that 13 thousand 444 people have been affected by floods and landslides, 12 people were injured and 109 people lost their homes.
storm Trees fell, streets flooded, killing one man Because the awning of a supermarket fell down in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area, which has a population of just over four million people.
In the central neighborhoods of the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, citizens waited in front of their homes for the intervention teams that were unable to intervene. “It’s unfortunate that Civil Defense is here and can’t do anything because they only have a few machetes in their hands,” 58-year-old Carlos Cavaliero told EFE, pointing to the branches of a large tree that had fallen on his house.
CEEE Grupo Equatorial Energia, the company responsible for the region’s electricity supply, said winds of up to 90 kilometers per hour and numerous lightning strikes damaged networks and caused service outages to some of its customers. The group warned citizens not to approach downed cables and said it was trying to restore power “as soon as possible” but did not give an estimate of when that might happen.
Additionally, five of six water treatment plants in Porto Alegre have been without power since Tuesday night, the city’s mayor, Sebastiao Melo, said this morning. It affects 1.2 million people. Melo called on city residents to stay home if possible to allow responders to work in an “agile” manner.
The El Niño climate phenomenon, which Brazil has been experiencing for several months, now causes increased rainfall in the south of the country and drought in the north. Last September, an extratropical hurricane hit Rio Grande do Sul, killing nearly fifty people and causing thousands to be evacuated.