Severe Storms Hit Rio Grande do Sul as Pelotas Funnel Cloud Triggers Damage, Estrela Opens Aid Sites

Overview

• Around 10:45 a.m. Thursday, a funnel cloud was seen over Pelotas’ Fragata neighborhood, with more than 40 mm of rain in 30 minutes and winds that toppled poles, stripped roofs and damaged an auto workshop and a salvage yard.
• UFPel meteorologists say the rotating column did not touch down, classifying it as a funnel cloud rather than a tornado.
• Inmet reports its campus station registered a tornado in Pelotas with gusts near 75 km/h, underscoring a classification discrepancy.
• The same frontal system damaged roughly 16 municipalities; Estrela reports a violent windstorm that unroofed about 60 homes and three schools and prompted dozens of Civil Defense calls.
• Estrela set up fixed assistance points in Pinheiros and at the Municipal Housing Secretariat for tarps, tiles and social support, as authorities maintain alerts for localized severe storms after days of extreme heat.