Archive image of a power outage in the city of São Paulo (Brazil).Andre Penner (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Last Friday, around four o’clock in the afternoon, it became so dark in São Paulo that it seemed as if night had fallen. In reality, it was a storm of particular intensity, with heavy rain and wind speeds of more than 100 kilometers per hour, which killed seven people and caused very serious property damage in the most populous city in Latin America. A new extreme climate phenomenon. According to the Enel company, this Monday, three days after the storm, half a million residents in São Paulo and 24 other major cities are still without electricity. The power outage affected 3.7 million people. Classes were suspended in neighborhoods hardest hit by the storm, which swept away hundreds of trees that, when they fell, blocked hundreds of streets.
The victims died when they were hit by trees or walls that collapsed due to the force of the gusts of wind. Two died in the city, the rest in surrounding communities. Enel estimates that supplies will be fully restored this Tuesday.
In Brazil, as in other countries, extreme climate phenomena are occurring, which are being exacerbated this year by the El Niño effect, which led to a historic drought around the Amazon in October and very heavy rainfall in the border region with Argentina or a Category 5 hurricane in Acapulco, Mexico.
Some of the affected residents of São Paulo loudly celebrated the return of electricity to their homes, according to tweeter Tiago Scheuer’s irony. “World Cup final? No, it’s just the electricity returning to the neighborhood 53 hours and 13 minutes later! Surreal!” he congratulated himself on Sunday.
Surreal was also the adjective chosen by Gabriela Lotta, another X user who complained about suffering such chaos “in a metropolis like São Paulo.” By the way, the richest city in the region.
While hundreds of thousands of people lost the food stored in the refrigerators and made a living by taking hot showers or cooking in their relatives’ houses, Mayor Ricardo Nunes was at the Interlagos circuit enjoying Formula 1. Nunes He intends to be re-elected within a year become.
The mayor of São Paulo explained this Monday that they have already managed to remove more than 170 fallen trees, but there are still about 125 blocking roads. They are waiting for the electric company to cut power so they can safely remove them. A dozen schools remain closed.
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