Three people killed as powerful winds hit Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, cutting power and halting public transport.
RIO DE JANEIRO: Three people have died after powerful gusts of wind in Brazil brought chaos to Rio de Janeiro and parts of Sao Paulo state, cutting power and bringing public transport to a standstill.
Winds of up to 100km/h hit Rio just before rush hour, felling dozens of trees and leaving thousands stranded as the city’s three subway lines ground to a halt.
The fire department said two people died when a wall collapsed in Rio, and a fisherman was missing in the coastal town of Tarituba.
In Santos in the state of Sao Paulo, wind gusts of up to 111km/h caused widespread damage, and a homeless person was killed by a fallen tree, local authorities said.
Operations were affected at several major airports in Rio and Sao Paulo. Santos Dumont Airport suspended operations for about two hours.
According to Rio firefighters, more than 90 trees fell. Many areas suffered blackouts before power was restored.
In the middle-class neighbourhood of Botafogo, two large trees fell on either side of the newsstand where Patrick Diego, 39, has worked for over 20 years.
“Fortunately, they came down slowly and didn’t hurt anyone. The only damage was that the newsstand was shifted out of place,” he said.
“Chaos has taken over,” building manager Paula Rubim, 53, told AFP, as the whole street was blocked to traffic, complaining that the “subway was at a standstill.”
The city hall’s operations centre said the winds were the result of “the approach of an oceanic cold front.”
The gusts came on a hot, sunny day, and videos showed people leaving Ipanema and Copacabana beaches en masse as gusts whipped up sand and swept away umbrellas and beach chairs.
The National Institute of Meteorology told AFP it had issued a coastal wind warning for Sao Paulo on Tuesday, which was extended to include the Rio de Janeiro coast on Wednesday.
