Hundreds of Thousands in São Paulo Still Without Electricity Since Friday's Storm

Half a million residents of São Paulo remained without electricity on Monday after three days since a storm destroyed power lines, leaving a large part of Brazil's largest city in the dark. The energy distribution company Enel stated, "The storm knocked down hundreds of trees and branches onto power lines in many streets of the city, initially cutting off electricity for 2.1 million customers." A carpenter named Denilson Lourindo criticized the city's management for not trimming the trees on the streets, noting that "the storm was terrible. I had no electricity, no mobile phone, and no fuel on Friday." He added that "Enel promised to restore power supply by tomorrow, Tuesday." School classes were canceled on Monday in the most affected neighborhoods of the city. Enel has restored services to 76 percent of its customers, but 500,000 are still without electricity on Monday. The company is the second-largest energy distributor in Brazil and is owned by the Italian energy group Enel. The company reported that the winds that struck São Paulo on Friday were the strongest in recent years and caused severe damage to the electricity network due to fallen trees.