A powerful tornado struck Chapecó Airport in southern Brazil on Wednesday morning, tearing off roofs and forcing all flights to stop. The storm hit the city of Chapecó, in Santa Catarina state, at around 10:30 a.m. local time on 4 November.
Airport badly damaged
The tornado hit Serafim Enoss Bertaso Airport the hardest. Strong winds tore the metal roof off the main entrance of the passenger terminal. Windows shattered, and metal structures were twisted and thrown across the tarmac. Hangars were also damaged.
The airport operator, Voe Xap, suspended all arrivals and departures for an indefinite period. It told passengers not to come to the terminal and to contact their airlines about cancellations and refunds. No time for reopening has been given.
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What officials confirmed
Santa Catarina’s Civil Defence confirmed that a tornado passed through Chapecó. Radar images showed signs of rotation and debris in the air. A second tornado was confirmed in the nearby town of Xanxerê, at around 10:48 a.m.
The National Institute of Meteorology, INMET, recorded wind gusts of up to 126 km/h. A Civil Defence weather station in the city recorded 92.9 km/h. Officials said the 126 km/h reading is a recorded gust. It does not prove the tornado’s top wind speed.
Power cuts and school closures
Around 102,000 customers lost power, according to early reports. The city logged 2,478 damage calls and declared a 180-day state of emergency. Afternoon classes in the municipal school network were cancelled. The state government also suspended in-person classes in state schools on Wednesday and Thursday.
In the first official updates, no deaths or injuries had been reported. INMET kept a red alert for storms, strong winds and hail across all 295 municipalities in the state.
Flights grounded
One report said an Azul Airlines flight, AD4274, had to abort its take-off as the strong winds hit the plane on the runway. Local reports said all scheduled flights for Wednesday were cancelled, with one report saying cancellations would continue until Friday, 6 November.
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