For Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB), São Paulo’s response to the floods of the last thunderstorm was quick. He also praised Pacaembu’s conditions after the end of the Copinha, overcome by Sao Paulo about Corinthians.
The rain that fell on Friday afternoon (24) left several streets and avenues, dragging cars in the descents. The stairs of Jardim São Paulo Metro Station looked like a waterfall, which eventually flooded the rails on line 1-blue. Also, part of the North Shopping Center ceiling collapsed.
The mayor’s statement was given after the São Paulo Junior Football Cup award, still on the lawn. “What rained yesterday was proportional to half of what was expected to rain the whole month. 250 millimeters were expected. And in an hour and a half it rained half the expected.”
According to the State Civil Defense, Friday was the day with the third largest volume of rain (125.4 mm) in the city according to the historic series of the season. The company Climatempo says that the storm was the most intense, in 24 hours, since 1988.
According to the mayor, the 37 flooding points recorded in the afternoon were reduced to four around 20h. “We had 357 vehicles prepared to work, 2,400 employees, and among the Hydrojato teams, pump trucks, and janitorial teams.”
He said the city is preparing for a new reality of extreme events caused by climate change, and cited an investment of R $ 7.6 billion reais in drainage, microdrainage, channeling of streams and containment of slopes.
Accompanied by the former mayor of Osasco and secretary of sports and leisure of the city, Rogério Lins (Somos), who wore an autographed shirt from São Paulo, the mayor also praised the structure of Pacaembu.
“When I was there at the players’ awards, both of Curtainns and Sao Paulo, and I said ‘how is the field there, the locker room?’ ‘. ” He also announced that Pacaembu equipment will be available for public use from Monday (27).
“We see this space that was practically dropped and today delivered, on the city’s birthday, such a beautiful space, and Monday is already open for the population to use the athletics track, to use the pool, to use the court , to use all these equipment. The city gets this very quality equipment. “
For the next games, before the completion of the works, the city should issue new temporary permits, as was made for the final of Copinha, for each occasion.
Asked, Nunes called the exceptional service pattern. “We need to be careful. The first step to deliver the definitive term was to wait and see the game.”
Lins stated that the documentation was in order for the final. “And we had to see the stadium in operation, in a great show, as it was.” He also said there were no security or drainage problems.
“All games will have a new license. Our technical team is following and obviously, if everything is met, we will give the definitive license, but have to meet all the legal requirements,” he said.
Problem history
Since 2021, the works have been a matter of nunes management, amid different completion announcements.
One of the clashes occurred in 2022, when the city announced that it would not deliver Charles Miller Square to the company. At the time, Allegra asked for compensation for a loss that estimated at R $ 22 million, caused by the impossibility of holding events during the pandemic, errors in calculating the size of the land and delays in issuing licenses, authorizations and permits.
The city responded at the time that the pandemic would not justify the rebalancing of the contract and that Allegra had revenue from the operation of the stadium during the years of renovation. Nunes management also said that the responsibility for the studies on the ground is the concessionaire.
Already the failed announcements of reopening took place in January last year, also for the final of the São Paulo Junior Football Cup, and in April of that year, for a show by Roberto Carlos. In June 2024, the pool promise did not materialize either.
