A sweeping blackout in Sao Paulo left about 1.3 million residents without power and triggered widespread flight cancellations after strong winds toppled trees onto the city’s power grid. Authorities reported nearly 400 flight disruptions as a result.
Utility company Enel issued a statement noting that it had restored power to 1.2 million of its 2.2 million customers in and around Sao Paulo, but an additional 300,000 customers lost electricity later on Thursday. Enel attributed the outages to winds of roughly 100 kilometers per hour (about 62 miles per hour) that began affecting the metropolis on Wednesday. The firm did not provide a definitive timeline for completing all repairs.
Enel added that some areas require longer work because repairs involve rebuilding segments of the entire grid. The company also said it was supplying generators to hospitals and other customers reliant on essential electrical equipment.
City officials reported that 231 trees had fallen due to the effects of an extratropical cyclone that formed in southern Brazil. Aviation authorities indicated that most cancellations occurred at Congonhas Airport, though Guarulhos International Airport, located outside the city, also faced disruptions.
Mayor Ricardo Nunes, who oversees the effort to remove trees that crowded the grid, told reporters on Wednesday night that he had urged Enel to accelerate its response and criticized the company for not prioritizing fixes. He asserted that the city is repeatedly left without power whenever outages strike and labeled Enel as “irresponsible.” The grid’s condition deteriorated further on Wednesday, with more than 2 million residents left without electricity.
Footage captured on Thursday showed several Enel vehicles in the company’s downtown Sao Paulo parking lot, which further inflamed frustration among residents and officials.
The water utility Sabesp warned that the outage is already impacting its operations, as pumps fail to run efficiently without reliable power.
In the meantime, many residents—often referred to as paulistanos—patrolled shopping centers and cafés to maintain a place to work. Psychologist Thaisa Fernandes, 45, who lives in the affluent Vila Madalena area, described working with online patients from a nearby snack bar when her power was out.
She recounted multiple outage estimates that proved inaccurate and expressed distrust in both the utility company and local authorities, noting this was the third outage event in the current year.
As evening fell, passengers at Congonhas Airport waited in long lines with little information about flight status, while the outage rippled to affect other airports across Brazil as travelers and airline staff sought clarity on rescheduled departures.
