Civil Defense confirms phenomenon that affected 15 homes and roofed the school on Tuesday (23); Despite the damage and downed electrical wiring, there were no injuries reported
A short-lived tornado hit the city of Farroupilha, on Tuesday (23). The storm had winds exceeding 100 km/h, which destroyed 15 homes and a school. Until the report’s most recent investigation, made late Tuesday night, there was only material damage, with no victims, according to the State Civil Defense.
The José Chesini Municipal School suffered almost total roof damage and internal flooding, according to the city hall. “Cleaning and tarping are already underway. No one was in the building during the storm and there were no injuries.”
In houses, electrical wiring falls on roads, which increases the risk for those traveling in the area. The city hall said it had activated the power grid shutdown.
The city of around 72 thousand inhabitants is in Serra Gaúcha, 110 kilometers from , close to Caxias do Sul, Bento Gonçalves and Flores da Cunha.
The State Civil Defense Monitoring Center confirmed the tornado through the analysis of aerial images of the disaster in the community of Vila Rica, in the interior of Farroupilha. They show that the damage pattern indicates that the debris was scattered in different directions, which characterizes the phenomenon.
At 12:58 pm, the Operations Center sent an orange alert to the Farroupilha region, including the affected location, with potential for rain, wind and lightning.
Farroupilha Civil Defense requests that the population does not travel to the affected locations. “The measure is necessary to guarantee assistance to affected families and to preserve everyone’s safety.”
The Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul says it will assess the damage and organize the next reconstruction actions. “The guidance is clear: do not go to the affected areas. The teams are mobilized and working to guarantee safety and assistance to families”, he reinforces. “The team from the 9th Regional Coordination of Protection and Civil Defense, based in Caxias do Sul, was in the city of Farroupilha to support local management in surveying the damage and any disaster management measures that will be adopted”, he informed.
*With information from Estadão Conteúdo
Published by Nícolas Robert
