São Paulo and Minas Gerais Under Weekend Rain Alerts as Slow Front Fuels Downpours

Overview

• Brazil’s meteorology agency issued a yellow alert for the city of São Paulo from 10:00 Friday to 10:00 Saturday, forecasting 20–30 mm per hour or up to 50 mm per day and winds of 40–60 km/h with risks of power cuts, falling branches, flooding and lightning.
• An orange accumulated-rain alert covers 31 municipalities in northern, central and northwestern Minas Gerais, warning of 30–60 mm per hour or 50–100 mm per day with potential for floods, river overflows and landslides.
• Governador Valadares recorded nearly 60 mm between night and Friday morning, with a flooded underpass closed, a motorist rescued from a stranded vehicle, overflowed streams, structural damage to canal walls and a bus collision with a pole in high water.
• In Belo Horizonte, a woman was swept by runoff during a storm as the city issued a geologic-risk alert through Monday, with forecasts of up to 60 mm, lightning and wind gusts reaching 50 km/h.
• São Paulo’s state civil defense classified 46 cities in Vale do Paraíba, Serra da Mantiqueira, Litoral Norte and the Bragantina region at medium risk through Sunday and urged residents to avoid flood routes, stay clear of unstable slopes and call 199 or 193 in emergencies.