Storm in Rio causes deaths, injuries and makes Petrobras evacuate building

The strong storm that fell on Rio de Janeiro left at least three people dead, including a 2-year-old child, and caused numerous damages in municipalities in the state.

According to the State Secretariat for Civil Defense, the Fire Department responded to around 300 incidents related to the rains, 70 of which involved rescuing trapped or stranded people.

In the capital, one of the most affected cities, a 2-year-old girl died after a collapse in Chácara do Céu, in the North Zone. According to the municipality’s civil defense, the family had moved to the accident site last Sunday (5).

“The house is very close to the slope where there was a landslide, which ended up reaching this residence. Unfortunately, the property did not have a slab, it was just fiber cement tile. With that, this structure broke and victimized the child”, he told the CNN Rodrigo Gonçalves, Undersecretary of Civil Defense.

In another landslide, in the neighborhood of Catete, a 60-year-old woman and an 82-year-old man were rescued alive by firefighters and taken to Miguel Couto Hospital. The elderly man died on Wednesday.

Also in the city, but in the Center, a wall collapsed near Marquês de Sapucaí and one person was slightly injured.

According to the Rio Operations Center (COR), during the storm more than 100 sirens were triggered in the city, indicating the risk of landslides or flooding.

Also according to the COR, in a few hours it rained in the capital about 70% of what was expected for the month of February and approximately 70% more than the average registered in the months of February in the last 25 years.

In Saquarema, in the Lagos Region, a 27-year-old man died after being struck by lightning. According to witnesses, he was on the slab of the property when he suffered the electrical discharge.

In Jardim Catarina, in São Gonçalo, the Fire Department rescued a stranded family. Mother and a baby were rescued by boat.

Rain floods Petrobras building and building is evacuated

Due to the heavy rains that occurred on Tuesday (7), the Senado Building, owned by Petrobras, had several areas affected by water.

In a note, the company informed that there was a need to turn off part of the energy supply to the building and the entire workforce was evacuated from the building.

“As a preventive measure, the entire workforce at the Senado Building was instructed to work remotely this Wednesday, 2/8. Petrobras is evaluating the consequences of the flooding for the building’s infrastructure and the measures necessary to make it possible to return safely in person”, says the note.

In a post on Twitter, the governor of Rio de Janeiro Cláudio Castro (PL) stated that there is still a risk of heavy rain in several regions of the state and asked the population of Rio de Janeiro to avoid travel this Wednesday (8).

“More than 240 occurrences were attended in the state by our firefighters, including floods, floods, and rescues of people. The secretariats are ready to help the most affected municipalities. We remain attentive!”, says the governor.