São Paulo Ordered to Deliver Staged Anti‑Flood Plan After Court Cites Ongoing Omission

Overview

• Judge Alexandra Fuchs of the São Paulo state court found the city showed “serious deficiency” and “continued omission” on urban drainage and mandated a structural plan rather than reactive measures.
• The ruling requires a three‑phase plan filed 60, 120 and 180 days after final judgment, with implementation windows of up to two years, two to five years, and fifteen years reaching toward 2040.
• The plan must pinpoint critical areas, detail engineering works and land‑use actions, present costs and funding sources, set public timelines and include community participation mechanisms.
• Noncompliance triggers a daily fine of R$10,000 capped at R$1.8 million, and a separate request for collective moral damages was rejected.
• The city says it will appeal and cites more than R$9 billion invested since 2021 with 127 projects and bids underway, as new reporting notes the hydrological mapping needed to complete the drainage master plan has been pushed to 2028.