Eight dead as storms bring strong winds and rain

At least eight people have died and thousands are stranded without power after violent storms hit Brazil on Friday.

Central and southeastern parts of the country were hit by winds of up to 100 km/h (60 mph) and daily rainfall of up to 10 cm (4 inches), according to the National Institute of Meteorology.

Seven people are known to have died in São Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, mostly from falling trees and infrastructure due to strong winds and heavy rains.

Residents of the southeastern state described the unexpected downpour as brief but very heavy.

There have been power outages in large parts of São Paulo state since Friday, and problems with the water supply have also been reported.

According to the energy company Enel, more than 1.3 million households and companies are still without electricity. The company said it plans to restore power by Monday.

This came after residents of the Parque São Roberto neighborhood in São Paulo state held a protest against pot-banging on Saturday after being without power for more than 24 hours.

In the capital Brasilia, one soldier was killed and another injured at the military police headquarters.

The rain was so heavy that local media reported that officials in the Chamber of Deputies – the lower house of Brazil’s Congress – were forced to use umbrellas inside as water seeped through the roof.

However, many people in Brasília welcomed the storm as long-awaited relief after a record stretch of more than 165 days without rain.

In recent months, Brazil has experienced its worst drought on record, which experts have widely blamed Climate change and the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Dry weather has sparked wildfires across the country, devastating swaths of the Amazon rainforest and Pantanal wetlands and choking major cities with smoke.

The number of wildfires in the Amazon region rose to its highest level in two decades in July, according to government data.