Two Killed in Powerful Brazil Storm

Sun Mar 28, 4:01 PM ET
By BERND RADOWITZ, Associated Press Writer

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A large storm that was rare for its intensity killed at least two people and destroyed hundreds of homes along the southern coast of Brazil, officials said Sunday.

Brazil storm damage
Reuters Photo

American officials said winds were above 75 mph, making the storm the first hurricane on record in the South Atlantic. But Brazilian meteorologists said winds were between 50 and 56 mph, meaning it would only be a tropical storm.

One American meteorologist accused the Brazilians of playing down the storm's intensity to avoid panic. On Saturday, Brazilian officials had said they didn't think the wind and rain would be significant.

Santa Catarina state Civil Defense officials were still assessing the damage Sunday, but said at least 200 homes were known destroyed and 2,000 damaged.

A child in the city of Torres in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul died in a collapsed house when an area of beach resorts was hit by the high winds, the civil defense said.

On a road close to the city of Criciuma, a tree hit a car, killing the driver and severely injuring his wife. At least 30 people were injured in the region.

"The winds are getting less intense now, but the damage is substantial," Santa Catarina state Civil Defense official Marcio Luiz Alves said Sunday morning.

Five fishermen were missing off the coast of Santa Catarina after their ship sank, Alves said. Brazil's navy was searching for the missing on Sunday morning.

Another vessel with seven people on board that had been reported missing during the night was found with its crew unhurt.

The storm, dubbed Catarina, first hit the coasts of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's southernmost states, late Saturday with heavy rains and estimated winds of up to 60 mph.

The storm also downed trees and knocked out power to several hundred thousand people, according to civil defense officials in the two states.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center (news - web sites) in Florida estimated the storm was a Category I hurricane with central winds of between 75 mph and 80 mph. AccuWeather, Inc., a private forecasting company in Pennsylvania, said it also considered the storm a hurricane.

On Saturday, Brazilian meteorologist Dr. Gustavo Escobar had said the wind and rain would not be significant and there was no need to alarm people.

"We think the Brazilians are, quite frankly, out to lunch on this one," Michael Sager, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said on Saturday. "I think they're trying to play it down and not cause a panic. I don't know what they're doing, but they're obviously wrong."

All sides said they were basing their estimates on satellite data, since the United States has no hurricane hunter airplanes in the area and Brazil doesn't own any.

On Sunday, Brazilian scientists expressed surprise about the damage the storm had caused.

Escobar said the damage led officials to believe that winds during the night could have been above 50 mph. Marcelo Moraes, a meteorologist at the Integrated Climate Center of Santa Catarina said winds could even have been in the range of 94 mph, enough to classify it as a hurricane.

Sager said the storm had a clear, well-defined eye and that it had lasted for more than 36 hours. Storms that are not hurricane-strength sometimes form strong eyes, but not for that long, he said.

The center of the storm was over the southern coast of Santa Catarina state on Sunday morning, but decreasing in intensity, officials said.