Tornado Ravages Southern Brazil, Leaving Town in Ruins

At least six people have been killed and around 750 injured after a powerful tornado tore through a town in southern Brazil, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake, local authorities confirmed on Saturday.

The tornado struck the town of Rio Bonito do Iguaçu in Paraná state on Friday evening, unleashing winds of up to 250 kilometres per hour (155 miles per hour). The storm, which lasted only a few minutes, overturned vehicles, flattened homes, and reduced much of the town to rubble. Aerial footage captured scenes of devastation, with debris scattered across streets and entire neighbourhoods obliterated.

Officials said around 90 per cent of the town, home to about 14,000 residents, had been damaged. Rescue teams worked through the night, combing through heaps of twisted metal and broken masonry in search of survivors or victims still trapped beneath the wreckage.

For many, the destruction was overwhelming. “I arrived home and found myself without a roof over my head,” said Nereu Sabadini, 51, who was working outside town when the tornado struck. “I’m homeless now, and rebuilding will take time.”

Another resident, Roselei Dalcandon, surveyed the remains of her small shop and wept. “It destroyed everything — the houses, the schools, the town itself. What will become of us now?” she said.

Firefighters and emergency personnel treated hundreds of injured people, including nine in critical condition. One person remains missing, though officials warned that the death toll could rise as rescue efforts continue.

“It looks like a war zone,” said Fernando Schunig, head of the Paraná Civil Defence agency. “When these kinds of events hit an urban area, the destruction is enormous — it’s extremely lethal.” A temporary shelter has been set up in a nearby town to house displaced residents.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his “solidarity” with the victims and announced that a team of government ministers and disaster relief experts was travelling to the affected area to coordinate emergency assistance.

The national weather service issued further warnings for severe storms across Paraná, Santa Catarina, and Rio Grande do Sul, as the same violent weather system continued to batter southern Brazil with strong winds, torrential rain, and hail.

Last year, southern Brazil endured catastrophic flooding that killed more than 200 people and displaced two million in Rio Grande do Sul — one of the worst natural disasters in the country’s modern history. Experts have since warned that global warming is intensifying extreme weather events across the region, increasing both their frequency and severity.