Brazil Issues Widespread Yellow Storm Alerts as Southeast Cyclone Is Forecast

Overview

• Local severe storms earlier this week damaged towns in São Paulo with one event in Santa Bárbara d'Oeste toppling about 500 trees, injuring residents and triggering citywide debris removal and restorations.
• The Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia maintained large yellow alerts on Sunday for hundreds of municipalities, including Belo Horizonte and 843 cities in Minas Gerais, warning of 20–30 mm per hour or up to 50 mm per day and 40–60 km/h winds.
• Meteorological services report a cyclone is likely to form off the Southeast coast in the early hours of Monday November 16, a development that models show could keep a corridor of instability active across the Southeast, Center‑West, Northeast and Tocantins.
• Municipal and state emergency teams have continued recovery work such as removing fallen trees, restoring power and distributing temporary roofing, while some regional agencies revised or canceled specific warnings as forecasts evolved.
• Experts and officials point to urban tree‑planting practices, aging trees and limited municipal contingency planning as factors that raised local risk and say residents should follow Defesa Civil guidance during the expected afternoon and evening storms.