Cyclone in Rio Grande do Sul leaves residents stranded and facing lack of light and water

2023-06-17 15:45:02

Cyclone in Rio Grande do Sul causes chaos: Residents face islanding, lack of light and water

The extratropical clone that hit the northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul this Friday morning (16th), killing at least four people, continues to haunt residents across the state. Heavy rain, wind and flooding left people without electricity and water.

Gravataí reports difficulties in helping people whose houses were flooded. “A lot of water is still rising and there are a lot of people stuck at home,” said Silvana Klein, 36, a bank clerk. According to her, the ships were not enough to help the inhabitants of the city. There aren’t enough people or a boat big enough to rescue people. On our street, they rescued our neighbor because she was elderly, her autistic daughter and another neighbor because she was a woman. Then my husband and the other male neighbors stayed behind.”

The complaint in Porto Alegre is the lack of electricity and water, said Jonathan Oliveira, 32, resident of Loteamento Mariante, in the Belém Velho neighborhood. “We have been without electricity and water for more than 20 hours. Around here, many houses suffered flooding. They have water even on the walls and many people lost a lot of furniture. The lack of electricity and water is making life very difficult for the families who live here. We cannot bathe or cook food, ”he said.

In a note, the CEEE Grupo Equatorial Vitality notified that, due to the storm and the number of connections, the volume of accesses is well above average, but that the teams “continue working to restore the energy supply in the affected areas”. Until 6 pm on Friday, 250,000 consumers were without power in the concession area.

The most fulfilled regions are the Met (205,000 customers without electricity) and the north coast (40,000). The most affected municipalities are Porto Contente, Viamão, Alvorada, Tramandaí, Capão da Canoa, Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Palmares do Sul and Balneário Pinhal.

Cyclones like the one that hit southern Pau-Brasil on Friday are not uncommon. On the contrary, this phenomenon happens with relative frequency. It happens that, in general, it is recorded further south of the continent. Extratropical cyclones form from the contrast between a cold air mass and a warm air mass.

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