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Brazil Storm Kills 2, Injures at Least 39

Posted on: Sunday, 28 March 2004, 06:00 CST

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - A whirling storm battered the coast of southern Brazil on Sunday, killing two people, injuring at least 39 others and destroying hundreds of homes, civil defense officials said Sunday.

American meteorologists said winds exceeded 74 mph, making the storm the first hurricane on record in the South Atlantic. Brazilian scientists originally disagreed, but on Sunday they acknowledged the winds could have been as high as 94 mph - well above hurricane strength.

Brazil has no wind-measuring devices in the affected areas, and both sides said they were basing their estimates on satellite data.

Authorities were searching for 11 fishermen missing off the coast of Santa Catarina state after two boats sank nine miles offshore in 13-feet-high waves early Sunday, Navy Commander Paolo Baltore said.

The storm roared ashore early Sunday about 520 miles southwest of Rio de Janeiro. The number of injuries from the storm could rise, since it had cut communication with several towns, Santa Catarina state Civil Defense official Marcio Luiz Alves said late Sunday.

The storm damaged an estimated 20,000 homes in Santa Catarina, destroying 500 of them completely. That left about 1,500 people homeless and forced as many as 15,000 to flee their homes, Alves added.

The storm, dubbed Catarina by meteorologists, hit the coasts of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul states late Saturday with heavy rains and high winds. It was dissipating over land late Sunday.

On Saturday, meteorologists from the Brazilian Center for Weather Forecasting and Climatic Studies were calling the storm an "extra-tropical cyclone" with estimated winds of 50-56 mph.

But the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami estimated the storm was a full-fledged, Category I hurricane with central winds of 75-80 mph. A private U.S. forecasting company, AccuWeather, said it also considered the storm a hurricane.

On Sunday, Brazilian scientists acknowledged they were surprised by the intensity of the storm.

Marcelo Moraes, a meteorologist at the Integrated Climate Center of Santa Catarina state, said winds could have reached 94 mph. Hurricanes begin at 74 mph.

Dr. Gustavo Escobar of the forecasting center also said the winds could have been stronger than 50 mph.

Near the city of Criciuma in Santa Catarina state, a tree smashed into a car and killed the driver, officials said. His wife was seriously injured. At least 34 others also were injured throughout the state, the civil defense said.

Strong winds and falling trees destroyed some 200 homes and damaged another 3,000 in Criciuma alone, civil defense officials said.

Off the coast, a police helicopter and air force plane were scanning the sea in hopes of finding the missing fishermen, Baltore said. A navy rescue vessel was also headed to the site.

In Torres in Rio Grande do Sul state, a house collapsed in an area of beach resorts pummeled by high winds, killing a child, Civil Defense official Marcio Luiz Alves said.

The storm swept the roofs off some 400 homes there and cut of the electricity of 35,000 people for more than 12 hours.

Five people in Torres were injured by falling roof parts and at least 150 people fled their homes and were sheltered in nearby schools, Rio Grande do Sul state Civil Defense officer Alexandre Wilante said.

The mayor of Torres declared a state of emergency. Both he and the Santa Catarina state assembly asked for donations of food and blankets.

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