Montevideo Portal
On Saturday night, a squall was recorded in Florida that caused roofs to blow off, trees to fall and power outages in the department. The most affected localities, however, were the departmental capital and 25 de Agosto.
In Florida, an orange alert was in effect on Saturday night, as reported yesterday followingnoon and later updated by the Uruguayan Institute of Meteorology (Inumet).
Orange alert for strong storms and heavy rain
Yellow alert for strong storms
It will be updated at 01:00 or before significant changesMore info: https://t.co/zY2u8OFmLu pic.twitter.com/hrl0wyQ8lO
– Inumet (@MeteorologiaUy) January 23, 2022
Wind gusts reached 102 kilometers per hour. Two minor injuries were recorded, as confirmed to Montevideo Portal the mayor of Florida, Guillermo López, who also estimated that the loss of electricity service affected 20% of the department.
According to UTEAs of this Sunday morning, 10.51% of the department’s clients (a total of 3,479) continue to be affected.
The Floridian community chief pointed out that the squall began around 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and records of affected people were received until 11:00 p.m. Also, until 09:00 this Sunday, 36 reported events were reported in relation to this phenomenon, as learned Montevideo Portal. However, this number is likely to fluctuate because complaints are still being received.
As he indicated, the only evacuees that were registered were some campers from the Robaina campsite, located in the city of Florida, but it was “exclusively as a precaution” due to the “vulnerability they have once morest the wind that may come” and for being “very near the river”, which can go up.
“The emergency committee was attending, above all, emergencies, and now, evaluating more calmly, we are going to clear up the problems that we are observing,” said López.
In this line, the mayor indicated that the Departmental Emergency Coordination Center (Cecoed) of the department “worked from the first moment” in conjunction with the coordinator of the local Police Headquarters. They commanded the operations and prioritized the emergencies, since “there was a high demand for claims that must be prioritized to intervene with the Fire Department, clearing public roads, ensuring the safety of the physical integrity of the neighbors,” said the hierarch.
In turn, he pointed out that this Sunday he is already in dialogue with the Ministry of Social Development (Mides) to “exactly identify those who have had problems with blowing up roofs.” López foresees “supporting them these days, immediately”, and in the following days the objective of “recovering their habitability conditions” was raised.
“Emergency situations have been clearing up,” concluded the mayor.
Neighbor of August 25 sends us video of a tornado that was recorded in the area on this day. “Roofs were blown up, trees fell, we are without light,” he told our station pic.twitter.com/ym6FBnKox6
— C.W.33 RADIO FLORIDA (@exitorama) January 23, 2022
Montevideo Portal
