Heavy rains create craters in the capital of São Paulo.
On Wednesday night, a crater opened up on Rua Manoel Pereira da Silva, in the eastern part of the capital, blocking three of the four lanes of the road, extending for 120 meters. In the northern part of the city, a huge hole appeared on Rua Willis Roberto Banks on Tuesday the 15th, frightening residents and leading Civil Defense to close off two houses.
Fernanda Cruz
Reporter from Agência Brasil
São Paulo – Residents of São Paulo are facing disruption and concerns at the start of the year due to the damage caused by the heavy rains that have been falling in the city. Last night, a crater opened up on Rua Manoel Pereira da Silva, in the east of the capital, blocking three of the four lanes of the road, over a length of 120 meters. The road is an important link between the capital and the city of São Caetano do Sul, in the ABC Paulista region. In the north, a huge hole that appeared on Rua Willis Roberto Banks on Tuesday (15) frightened residents and led Civil Defense to close two houses.
According to the Department of Water and Electric Energy (Daee), the crater in the eastern zone appeared due to an erosion process on the right bank of the Tamanduateí River, located next to Rua Manoel Pereira da Silva. The state secretary of Sanitation and Water Resources, Edson Giriboni, explained that the problem was caused by water infiltration during the canalization works of the stream. This would have saturated the soil, which eventually gave way.
In a statement, Daee informed that a company was hired, on an emergency basis, to recover the riverbank, leaving the site ready so that the city hall can repave the asphalt. The works will start today (17) and traffic should be released within 30 days.
The hole that appeared in the north zone, 8 meters wide and 15 meters long, was opened due to the large volume of water that forced galleries and branches. "This overload resulted in isolated ruptures in this catchment system," said the Pirituba sub-prefecture in a statement. On Saturday (12), the sub-prefecture began reconstruction services on the street's gallery manhole. The road remains closed and the expectation is that emergency work will solve the problem within 20 days.
The Civil Defense coordinator, Jair Paca, visited the site and preventively closed two properties. According to him, five people had to leave their homes and are being sheltered with friends and relatives.
Since the beginning of December, the rains have caused the death of 12 people and injured 59 in the state of São Paulo. Most (seven) were struck by lightning and three were swept away by floods. According to Civil Defense, 2.163 people were displaced and 260 were left homeless (when dependent on shelter provided by the public sector).
Of the 129 municipalities in São Paulo monitored by Civil Defense, 114 are under observation, 14 are under attention, and one (Cubatão) is under alert.