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Extreme storms hit Pernambuco and Paraíba during the long holiday weekend, leaving 2,190 people homeless or displaced, causing six deaths, breaking bridges, blocking highways, and recording accumulations close to 200 mm in 24 hours, while INMET maintains an orange alert for new storms in the Northeast.
According to Diário do Grande ABC, the balance from Pernambuco’s Civil Defense released on the morning of this Saturday, May 2, counts 1,096 homeless people, who lost their homes, and another 1,094 displaced, who had to temporarily leave their properties. In total, 2,190 people were directly affected by the storms that hit the state since Friday afternoon, May 1.
Six people died: four in Pernambuco, victims of two landslides in Olinda and Recife, and two in Paraíba, electrocuted during a race in Guarabira, when an energized wire came into contact with a puddle. The city of Abreu e Lima recorded 199 millimeters of rain. Goiana recorded 196 mm, Paulista 189 mm, Camaragibe 187 mm, and Olinda and Igarassu reached 184 mm and 183 mm, respectively.
In Paraíba, Alhandra accumulated 191 mm and Pilar reached 170 mm, volumes that, according to the Executive Agency for Water Management of Paraíba, exceed the highest indices recorded in the last 30 years. Governor Lucas Ribeiro declared a state of public calamity on Friday, and Governor Raquel Lyra, of Pernambuco, flew over the most affected areas and summarized the event’s dimension: “The volume of water exceeded expectations.”
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Landslides in Olinda and Recife left four dead during the peak of the rains
The four deaths in Pernambuco were victims of two landslides that occurred within minutes of each other in the Recife Metropolitan Region, during the early hours of Friday to Saturday. At that moment, the rains reached their peak intensity and the waterlogged soil on the slopes began to give way.
The first landslide occurred in Alto da Bondade, Olinda. The barrier collapsed onto a residence, burying a 21-year-old woman and her six-month-old daughter, who did not survive. Five people were injured in the same landslide, but their health conditions were not disclosed by the Civil Defense.
The second landslide was in Dois Unidos, in the north zone of Recife. A woman, whose age was not informed, and her six-year-old son were buried by the barrier that collapsed onto the family’s house. Both events occurred in hillside neighborhoods, where the combination of extreme rain, saturated soil, and vulnerable occupation turns the night into an immediate risk of death.
Vulnerable slopes in Olinda, Recife, and Camaragibe repeat pattern seen in previous tragedies
The landslides occurred in neighborhoods where houses were progressively built on steep terrain, often without the containment infrastructure required for extreme rains. These are areas that have already appeared in previous tragedies in the Recife Metropolitan Region.
In April 2022, rains in Pernambuco left over 100 dead in the metropolitan region. The structure of the slopes, in many places, remains vulnerable. The pattern of occupation and risk also remains, especially in communities with little margin for rapid evacuation.
In Paulista, a landslide in the Jardim Paulista Baixo neighborhood hit a property and left eight people displaced. In Recife, in the Passarinho neighborhood, another landslide followed by a collapse led to reports of two people buried, and Fire Department teams were called.
Almost 500 people were rescued stranded in Pernambuco during the night
Throughout the night and Saturday morning, the Pernambuco Fire Department rescued almost 500 people stranded by floods in different parts of the state. Operations took place while rains were still causing flooding, overflowing, and difficult access.
This type of rescue shows that the impact of the storms was not restricted to the slopes. Water also advanced over streets, low-lying areas, canal banks, and properties in urban regions with insufficient drainage.
When the volume of rain exceeds the drainage capacity, the city loses mobility in a few hours. Families are trapped inside their homes, vehicles are surrounded by water, and emergency teams must act on multiple occurrences simultaneously.
What 199 millimeters of rain in 24 hours means for hillside neighborhoods and urban areas
For most people, 199 millimeters of rain is just a technical number. For those living in hillside neighborhoods of Olinda, Recife, and Camaragibe, it is the number that explains why the barrier gave way, why the street turned into a river, and why firefighters spent the night evacuating families from flooded areas.
An accumulation of 199 mm in 24 hours means 199 liters of water falling on each square meter of surface. In impermeable urban areas, where asphalt, concrete, and buildings cover a large part of the soil, practically all this water drains off. It does not infiltrate, is not absorbed, and flows into sidewalks, streets, storm drains, and canals.
When the volume exceeds the capacity of drainage systems, designed for smaller events, water overflows, invades homes, and saturates slopes. From this point, gravity does the rest: the soil loses stability, barriers slide, and properties in risk areas are exposed.
Six cities in Pernambuco exceeded 180 mm of rain and entered extreme rain conditions
Apac, the Pernambuco Water and Climate Agency, recorded six cities in Pernambuco with accumulations above 180 mm in 24 hours. This level, by Brazilian meteorological criteria, characterizes extreme rain and requires immediate Civil Defense response.
Abreu e Lima reached 199 mm, Goiana 196 mm, Paulista 189 mm, Camaragibe 187 mm, Olinda 184 mm, and Igarassu 183 mm. In comparison, the historical average rainfall for the entire month of May in Recife is approximately 270 mm.
This means that, in some cities in the metropolitan region, the rain of a single night represented about two-thirds of the volume expected for the entire month. The temporal concentration was the decisive factor: it wasn’t just raining a lot, it was raining very fast.
Paraíba declared calamity after record rainfall, damaged bridges, and impassable highways
While Pernambuco counted dead and homeless, Paraíba faced its own records. The State Water Management Executive Agency, Aesa, documented that the volumes recorded in Alhandra, Pilar, São José dos Ramos, and Mogeiro surpassed the highest indices of the last 30 years.
Alhandra accumulated 191 mm, Pilar recorded 170 mm, São José dos Ramos reached 128 mm, and Mogeiro marked 117 mm. The city of Ingá concentrated some of the most severe structural damage, with the bridge that passes through the urban stretch partially broken after the overflowing of the river that cuts through the municipality.
BR-230, one of the main highways in inland Paraíba, had impassable sections, as did PB-032 and PB-054. The isolation of riverside communities made it difficult for rescue teams to arrive in the first hours after the storms.
João Pessoa had homeless families and the government mobilized emergency resources
In João Pessoa, 11 families were left homeless and were directed to a local school used as a temporary shelter. The measure was part of the emergency response to the intense rain that hit the capital and other Paraíba municipalities.
Governor Lucas Ribeiro declared a state of public calamity on Friday afternoon, while the rains were still at their peak. The decree allows for the mobilization of emergency resources with fewer bureaucratic barriers.
In practice, the measure speeds up contracts, releases funds, and allows for the requisition of goods and services on an urgent basis. In events of this type, the speed of the public response can define the difference between prolonged isolation and rapid assistance to affected families.
INMET maintains orange alert for Pernambuco, Paraíba, and other Northeastern states
The National Institute of Meteorology issued an orange alert, a danger classification, for Pernambuco, Paraíba, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Maranhão, and Piauí this Saturday, May 2. The alert predicts storms between 50 and 100 mm per day, with intense winds of 60 to 100 km/h.
The regions covered in Pernambuco include the Recife Metropolitan Region, the Zona da Mata, and the Agreste. In Paraíba, the alert covers Mata Paraibana, Agreste Paraibano, and Borborema.
The forecast indicates that the Coast, Agreste, and Brejo Paraibano may continue to experience unstable weather throughout the weekend. This means that rescue teams, Civil Defense, and affected families may still face new rains while dealing with the impacts of previous storms.
Intertropical Convergence Zone fuels storms in the Northeast during early May
The meteorological mechanism behind the storms is the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the ITCZ. This band of tropical convection migrates to the southern hemisphere between March and June, organizing bands of heavy clouds over the northeastern coast and agreste.
In May 2026, the ITCZ is positioned particularly actively over the Northeast, favored by above-average ocean temperatures in the North Tropical Atlantic. This same mechanism had already intensified rains at the start of the northeastern rainy season throughout February, March, and April.
When the ITCZ acts over vulnerable urban areas and already wet soils, the risk increases rapidly. Rain ceases to be merely a meteorological event and becomes a factor of urban, social, and humanitarian crisis.
Rio Grande do Sul also faced extreme rain on the same weekend due to another meteorological system
While the Northeast was hit by the ITCZ, Rio Grande do Sul experienced its own extreme event, but due to a completely different mechanism. From Friday afternoon and throughout Saturday morning, heavy rains associated with a cold front caused flooding, fallen trees, blocked highways, and left hundreds of people displaced.
In total, 19 municipalities reported damage to the state Civil Defense. The city of Rosário do Sul, in the Western Frontier, recorded 324 mm of rain in just seven hours, the highest volume reported in a single event in the state during the long holiday weekend.
Brazil entered the first weekend of May with simultaneous climate emergencies at opposite ends of the country. In the Northeast, the rain came from the tropical convection of the ITCZ; in the South, from a cold front associated with an extratropical cyclone.
Tragedy in Pernambuco and Paraíba repeats risk pattern seen in 2022, 2024, and 2025
The tragedy in Pernambuco and Paraíba is not an isolated episode in the recent history of the two states. In April 2022, extreme rains in the Recife Metropolitan Region left over 100 dead, in Pernambuco’s biggest climate tragedy in decades.
In June 2024, new landslide episodes again hit the same region, with deaths in hillside areas. In May 2025, the metropolitan region recorded similar events, with victims in Olinda and Paulista.
The pattern repeats because the structural causes remain present. Slopes occupied by communities without housing alternatives, insufficient drainage, waterlogged soils, and alerts that do not always manage to translate into effective evacuation before the worst of the rain.
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