Extreme drought in Brazil triggers fatal sand storms
By AFP
Published October 7, 2021
A massive dust storm is seen engulfing the neighborhood of Nossa Senhora do Carmo at the city of Frutal, Minas Gerais state, Brazil, on September 26, 2021 - Copyright AFP/File Olivier DOULIERY
Unusually powerful sandstorms have left at least six people dead in Sao Paulo in recent weeks, local media said, as southeastern Brazil grapples with severe drought.
Scenes of huge orange dust clouds rumbling across the countryside — with winds of up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) an hour — have been seen at least three times since the end of September, terrifying residents in urban and rural areas of Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais states.
The six people killed in Sao Paulo were victims of falling trees and houses and other direct consequences of the storms, local media reported.
“In some ways, they’re a common occurence, but not of this magnitude that we’ve seen in 2021,” meteorologist Estael Sias of the Brazilian weather channel Metsul told AFP of the storms.
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