The São Paulo government announced this Thursday (17) that it will set up a crisis office at Palácio dos Bandeirantes, headquarters of the São Paulo government, to monitor the heavy rains and winds are expected in several regions of the state of São Paulo starting tomorrow (18). The government also informed that, starting this afternoon, Civil Defense teams will be inside the operations center of electricity concessionaires – including Enel – to monitor the contingency plan that these companies have put together to face emergency situations.
“We will monitor how these companies are working and delivering the service to the population,” said Colonel Henguel Ricardo Pereira, coordinator of Civil Defense for the state of São Paulo. “When the company [Enel] says it will have between 700 and 1,200 teams [trabalhando] on the street, now we [da Defesa Civil] you will be able to see this. When they say they are going to place generators in pre-determined places so as not to impact health and education, we are going to hold them accountable, because now we are going to be inside the operations center”, he added.
Pereira spoke to the press early this afternoon (17) after a meeting between him and the governor of São Paulo Tarcísio de Freitas, the mayor of São Paulo Ricardo Nunes, representatives of the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel), the Agency Public Services Regulator of the State of São Paulo (Arsesp) and the companies Enel, CPFL, EDP, Energisa and União Energia, which operate in São Paulo.
The heavy rains and winds that hit several cities in São Paulo last Friday (11) caused seven deaths and tree fallsin addition to leaving at least two million consumers without electricity. Even today, according to Enel, 36 thousand consumers continue to face problems with the lack of electricity in Greater São Paulo.
A week after the storm, the Civil Defense issued new alert for rain showers and gusts of wind between this Friday (18) and next Sunday (20) throughout the state of São Paulo. The alert, says the state agency, is due to the passage of a cold front that will bring gusts of wind that can reach 60 km/h, lightning and possible hailstorms in isolated spots, with risks of landslides, flooding and floods.
According to the colonel, the entire Civil Defense staff, made up of around 5,400 municipal and state agents, will be on standby from tomorrow to monitor any problems caused by the storm forecast for this weekend. The crisis cabinet, which will bring together members of the Civil Defense and areas such as health, the Fire Department and the Traffic Engineering Company (CET), will be set up from 8am tomorrow.
Procon Alert
Given the forecast of a new storm in the state of São Paulo, starting tomorrow, Procon-SP advises consumers and small traders to adopt some preventive measures in order to avoid problems caused by possible failures in the energy supply. Among these measures, says the agency, is the documentation of important situations so that the consumer can protect themselves when asking for compensation.
“Although it is not mandatory, consumers can take photos of food, medical prescriptions, medicine packaging; attach invoices for the purchase of these products, reinforcing the request that must be sent directly to the company or, if the consumer prefers, directly to Procon-SP”, he informed.
Especially for consumers whose homes have life support equipment, Procon-SP advises that a record be made, by photo or video, of the operating status of the equipment and that the precautions recommended by the device manufacturers be adopted in cases of lack or power surges. The agency also asks these users to register in advance with energy distributors so that the concessionaires can take immediate action in cases of lack of electricity or damage to equipment.
“Anyone who has medicines that require refrigeration must also record their existence, as well as receipts, leaflets and medical prescriptions, in order to guarantee the presence and condition of these products before or immediately after any interruption in the electricity supply”, warned the Procon.
