In São Paulo, the storm toppled trees and structures, killing 7 people and leaving 2 million homes without power; After 167 days without rain, Brasilia braces for storms – Friday night (11/10) heavy rains lashed Sao Paulo state, killing one person after a tree fell and leaving 2.1 million homes without power.
Recorded wind speeds reached 108 km/h, causing damage such as downed power lines, trees and walls and damaged cars and houses.
The storm also closed airports and affected water services in many areas, the state government said. Officials have asked people to limit their use of drinking water.
Enel, the concessionaire responsible for energy supply in Greater São Paulo, said at least 1.3 million people were still without power as of 9pm Saturday, 870,000 of them in the capital alone, and gave no timeline for reconnection.
Aneel (National Electric Energy Agency) is considering revoking the company's offer for not resolving the outage issues promptly and satisfactorily and has sought an explanation of the situation.
Other parts of the country were also battered by storms over the weekend. In Brasilia, after 167 days of continuous drought, the rain was welcomed by residents as a relief, but it also caused damage. According to the corporation, one soldier was killed and another injured when a tree fell while removing a flag in front of the Military Police Headquarters.
Videos also show House of Representatives staff using umbrellas throughout the house as rainwater seeps into the building.
Climate extremes
In recent months, Brazil has experienced one of the worst droughts, which, according to experts, is linked to climate change.
The dry weather has fueled fires across the country, decimating the Amazon rainforest, leaving jaguars with burns in wetlands and choking almost every capital city with smoke.
According to a report published on Saturday (12/10), MapBiomas, a deforestation warning system using satellite images, has destroyed 22.4 million hectares of fire in the nine months to 2024, a 150% increase compared to the same period. 2023. This is 2.6% of the Brazilian territory.
More than half of the Amazon region burned. In September alone, 5.5 million hectares were affected by fires – a 196% increase compared to the same month in 2023.
“The dry season, which usually runs from June to October in the Amazon, was particularly severe this year and exacerbated the fire crisis in the region,” said Ane Alencar of MapBiomas.
In September, the Cerrado, Brazil's reservoir and home to about 5% of all plant and animal species on Earth, was disproportionately affected by fire at 4.3 million hectares.
In September, nearly 318,000 hectares of marshland, the world's largest wetland, were destroyed by fire – a 662% increase compared to the same month last year.
sf (AFP, DPA, ots)
