Amid a major storm warning Tuesday for five states in the Southeast and Southern regions, powerful storms left a trail of destruction since the weekend. In Hortolandia, in the interior of São Paulo, a 26-year-old woman died after her car was swept away by floods on Sunday. On the same day, a hailstorm injured 110 people and affected 17,000 residents of Erechim, Rio Grande do Sul.
In Santa Catarina, heavy rains caused flooding and damage in at least 32 municipalities as of Monday evening. In southwest Goiás, wind speeds exceeded 90 kilometers per hour and structures collapsed, such as the roof of a gas station falling off.
According to the municipality of Hortolandia, Joycelyn de Oliveira Pacheco was inside a car that ended up being swept away during the storm. Videos circulating on social media showed that the young woman asked for help, but she was already dead when rescuers found her.
– The car turned, heading towards the river. Then I went over the bridge and the car ended up submerged in water. It was a very sad and terrible situation, Caretaker Marcos Costa, who tried to help the victim during the floods, told the g1 portal. -We already brought a rope. I went to ask her to get out of the car, which had the window open. “I don’t know how to swim, I don’t know how to swim,” she said. I said: Get out of the car and we will pick you up.
Emergency
The city of Ereshim was forced to declare a state of emergency due to the consequences of the storm. A Civil Defense report issued in the morning showed that 73 people were treated at Santa Teresinha Hospital, 15 others at Caridad Hospital, and 25 others in the Emergency Care Unit (UPA). The local press reported that at least 20 neighborhoods were damaged by ice, which led to the displacement of at least 19 people, in addition to damage to 54 public buildings in the municipality.
According to the city council, 15 municipal schools, 20 state schools, 12 basic health units (UBS), three psychosocial care centers (Caps) and three reference centers for social assistance (CRAS) were damaged, as well as the headquarters of the municipal health department. Classes have been canceled this Monday.
– It suffered many damages that will need to be repaired – most notably, in a video posted on social media, the city’s mayor, Paulo Polis, in which he announced the distribution of tarpaulins to the affected residents. — It won’t be simple, but we will get through this and we will recover. Let’s go together.
In Santa Catarina, heavy rains that began on Saturday affected more than 360 homes. In all, at least 148 people had to leave their homes by late Monday afternoon.
The access channel to Itajai Port, the most important in the state, was closed at 8:30 a.m. by the Navy due to strong winds. The place was not reopened until approximately eight hours later, after an evaluation by the company.
In Luiz Alves, in Vale do Itajai, entire homes were flooded. However, the most affected municipality was Joinville, in the north of the state, with 200 properties affected and a hundred residents displaced.
In Goiás, the center of the storm was Rio Verde. Within a few minutes, wind gusts of up to 91.8 km/h and a much higher-than-expected amount of water toppled structures, flooded streets and disrupted various services since the beginning of the afternoon.
A video clip showed the moment the roof of a gas station collapsed in the city located in southwestern Goiás state. In another area, the storm led to the collapse of the roof and part of the structure of a company. Videos showed cars swept away by floodwaters.
The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) reported the risk of heavy rain, strong winds and hail in Santa Catarina, Paraná, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The four states were placed on red alert due to the high risk of storms.
Conditions are worsening in the coastal area of these areas, where the rainfall rate can reach 100 mm, in addition to wind gusts exceeding 100 km/hour. The agency warned of the risk of damage to buildings, power outages, damage to farms, falling trees, floods, and disruption of land transportation. (with G1)