Gusts of winds of up to 125 km/h leave 3 dead in SP and 2 in Rio

The first death occurred in Santos (on the coast of São Paulo), where gusts reached 111.8 km/h at 12:40 pm, according to the city hall. A homeless man was hit by a tree that fell on Almirante Cochrane Avenue, at Canal 5, and died at the scene. In a bulletin, the city hall announced that there were 23 tree falls, in addition to six walls falling and houses being torn apart in the city. There was also the fall of a container at the Port of Santos, which hit the electricity grid.

The second death related to the gale occurred in Cesário Lange, in the Sorocaba region (in the interior of São Paulo). A tree fell on a car and killed the driver.

The third was a 50-year-old man who was on a fishing boat that sank near the Cigarras neighborhood, in São Sebastião, on the north coast of the state. Details about the victims have not yet been released.

Four other people who were on the boat were rescued and are doing well. Two had a stable clinical condition and two had hypothermia.

In addition to these deaths, there was also an accident with a small plane in the rural area of Mogi Mirim, and the pilot was burned to death. Authorities are still investigating whether the fall was caused by the wind.

The cities in São Paulo that recorded the strongest gusts were Itaporanga and Itaí, according to Civil Defense, with winds of 124.9 km/h. In Taquarituba, it reached 117 km/h and, in Itanhaém, there were gusts of up to 103 km/h.

In the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Civil Defense recorded 75.3 km/h in the Saúde neighborhood (in the south zone) and 71 km/h in São Caetano do Sul. At Congonhas airport, gusts reached 70.4 km/h.

The winds began to hit the capital of São Paulo in the early afternoon and led the state Civil Defense to issue a severe alert at 1:50 pm about strong gusts in the region. "Seek shelter and avoid uncovered areas. Do not stay under trees and poles," the statement said.

There were more than 40 warnings of downed trees throughout the day, according to firefighters.

According to Enel, 106 thousand customers were left without electricity in the concession area (which covers the city of São Paulo and Greater SP). In the capital, the peak of the blackout was 62 thousand properties without electricity. By 8:28 p.m., the numbers had decreased to 48,400 and 38,900, respectively.

Furthermore, at least 30 flights scheduled for Congonhas airport (which is in the south of the city) were affected. Concessionaire Aena said eight arrivals and seven departures were cancelled, in addition to 15 flights changed.

In Guarulhos, two flights had to be switched to other airports, according to Gru Airport.

The concessionaire said that passengers with scheduled trips should check the status of their flights directly with the airlines before traveling to the airport.

In Rio de Janeiro, the wind paralyzed the circulation of trains and subways and also changed the destination of four flights at Galeão international airport. Furthermore, it caused a blackout in all regions of the city in part of the state, affecting around 500,000 properties at 6:49 pm.

Light stated that supply in the south, center and Tijuca zones had been restored by the end of the afternoon, although other areas were still without power.

Two people died after a wall collapsed in Santa Teresa, in the central region of Rio, according to Civil Defense. There is still a search for a missing fisherman in Angra dos Reis, in the south of the state.

By early evening, the Rio Fire Department had been called to five landslides, 31 people rescued and 93 tree cuts. Vehicles, ambulances and boats were mobilized.

In Barra da Tijuca, construction businessman Paulo Edson Lamelha recorded on video the moment in which three employees of the Barra Bali condominium were left hanging from scaffolding, at the height of the eighth floor. The structure swayed in the wind.

“They managed to hold on to the balcony, stayed in that position for about an hour and left through the balcony of an apartment,” says Lamelha.

The wind also completely interrupted subway circulation on lines 1, 2 and 4, with trains stopping midway due to a lack of power, according to users. Train operations were stopped on all branches.

At 5:53 pm, MetrôRio reported that train intervals were in the process of being normalized on lines 1 and 4. Line 2, the one with the highest demand at peak times as it connects the south zone to Pavuna, in the north zone, remained with its circulation interrupted.

The operation of the BRT, an exclusive bus corridor system, was also impacted. Dom Bosco station, in Santa Cruz, was closed for boarding and disembarking due to damage to the roof. Traffic is intense in different parts of the city, with traffic lights out.

The Rio-Niterói bridge has intense flow along its entire length in the early evening. The crossing time, which outside peak hours is usually 13 minutes, was 50 minutes towards Niterói, and 38 minutes towards Rio, at around 5:40 pm.

The bridge administrator states that some sections of the route are impacted by the wind.

Faced with the advance of the wind, with gusts of around 70 km/h, COR-Rio (Operations and Resilience Center) placed the city in stage 2 at 4:50 pm this Wednesday. The level, also called the attention stage, is the second on a scale of five and indicates the risk of high-impact events, with the potential for worsening.

The agency recorded tree falls in the south, north and west zones, in addition to Ilha do Governador, the neighborhood where Galeão airport is located.