Powerful Storm Hits Southern Brazil Coast
Sunday March 28, 2004 4:46 AM
By BERND RADOWITZ
Associated Press Writer
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - A large spiraling storm lashed southern Brazil Saturday night, downing trees and ripping tiles off homes as Brazilian and U.S. meteorologists clashed over whether the storm is a hurricane - the first on record in the South Atlantic.
The outer edge of the storm hit the southern coast of Santa Catarina with 55 mph gusts and heavy rains a little before 11 p.m., said Clovis Correa of the State Meteorological Institute.
Correa said some 3,000 firemen, police and health workers were put on alert in southern Santa Catarina.
``We expect the rain and wind to rage for a couple of more hours, then the storm will back off a bit and hit again around three o'clock in the morning,'' Correa said.
The storm hit land around the beach resort of Laguna, a town of 40,000 inhabitants. It also brushed Torres, a city of 400,000 in the neighboring state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Laguna and Torres are about 500 miles south of Rio de Janeiro.
Rio Grande do Sul Civil Defense Director Colonel Paulo Osorio said fire and police officials were on standby in his state.
Meanwhile, a debate raged between Brazilian and U.S. meteorologists over whether the storm was a hurricane.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Florida estimated the storm was a full-fledged, Category I hurricane with central winds of between 75 and 80 mph, making it the first hurricane ever spotted in the South Atlantic. AccuWeather, Inc., a private forecasting company, said it also considered the storm a hurricane.
Brazilian scientists disagreed, saying the storm had top winds of 50 to 56 mph, far below the 75 mph threshold of a hurricane.
``Winds and rains will not be significant, so we don't need to alarm the population,'' meteorologist Dr. Gustavo Escobar of the Brazilian Center for Weather Prediction and Climatic Studies said earlier Saturday.
U.S. scientists said they were baffled by the Brazilian position.
