Eldorado do Sul declares emergency after storm; the number of homeless people exceeds 700 A storm with strong winds and hail caused damage in Eldorado do Sul, in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, on Saturday morning (11). The city hall declared an emergency situation after roofs were ripped off, trees fell and thousands of residents were left without electricity and water. According to an update this Monday morning (13), the number of homeless people rose to 720. There are around 40 people in a shelter set up in a municipal school. Around 500 points remain without electricity. ? Access the g1 RS channel on WhatsApp The storm started around 6am in the Parque Eldorado neighborhood. According to the municipality's Civil Defense coordinator, Mário Rocha, the weather forecast indicated only light to moderate rain, but the weather event formed quickly. As of Monday morning, the agency had distributed more than 1,900 tiles to affected residents. "The hail caused damage, but the windstorm was the biggest cause of the damage. So we noticed in some places that the tiles weren't even perforated, they were ripped off", says Rocha. Storm with wind and hail destroys houses in RS Arte/g1 The municipality, which was one of the hardest hit by the 2024 flood, is now dealing with the damage caused by the weekend's storm. The mayor of Eldorado do Sul, Juliana Carvalho, highlighted the difficulty in fully surveying the damage due to communication problems. “We are still rebuilding from that tragedy in 2024 and are now dealing with another type of climate event.” "The number of affected homes increased when we arrived in the field, because unlike those who asked for help via WhatsApp or by phone, when we actually arrived we were able to assist families who had not yet been able to ask for help because they had no way of communicating", explains the mayor. Thousands of residents were left without electricity. As the water supply in the region depends on artesian wells powered by electric pumps, the taps also ran dry. Water trucks are being used to fill water tanks in homes. Schools in the Parque Eldorado neighborhood had classes suspended due to blocked roads and fallen poles, in addition to the lack of electricity. Eldorado do Sul declares emergency after storm; the number of homeless people exceeds 700 Reproduction/RBS TV In the house of retiree Cláudia Aires, rainwater wet furniture and mattresses after the roof was damaged. "It rained inside, rocks fell, the beds are all wet, the covers are wet. It's all wet here, there's no way to use the bed, it's all wet. The storm was really bad, it was really ugly", he reports. "There was no time to do anything. It was just a matter of leaving the storm, there was nothing to do." Businesses were also unroofed. Businesswoman Maria Eduarda Melo had the roof of her salon completely ripped off by the force of the wind. She says she noticed the damage when she went out to check if the car had been damaged by hail. "When my husband turned on the flashlight and focused it on the patio, we saw the entire roof collapsed. The entire hall was destroyed. The damage was very great. Even more so because we just did it. There were things that we had just finished paying for, so the loss was quite big", laments the businesswoman. The displaced are being welcomed in the homes of relatives and neighbors. Volunteers work to map the most urgent needs and distribute basic supplies. "They help others by going to the homes of people they know. So, there's no way to even take people to the shelter, because they go to their neighbors' and relatives' houses. And then you end up lacking basic things, basic supplies. So, we volunteers, we literally did the work of coming door to door", says volunteer Simone Boneberg. The cleaning of public roads and the removal of poles and fallen trees should continue throughout the week. Eldorado do Sul declares emergency after storm; the number of homeless people exceeds 700 Reproduction/RBS TV VIDEOS: Everything about RS