Around 2 a.m. on Saturday (12), a loud crash woke Rua Tequici, in the Penha district of eastern São Paulo. A resident, Tiago dos Santos, told news site G1 that he heard a very loud noise and, when he went outside, saw that a building under construction had fallen onto a corner house. The debris reached a nearby square.

The collapse killed five people. According to the fire department, cited by the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, seven people were hit, four of them children, and only two were rescued alive: a 7-year-old child and a man of about 30, according to G1. Two women were pulled from the rubble dead, one of them pregnant. By Saturday morning, 58 firefighters and 21 vehicles were working the scene, joined by state and city civil defense teams. In Brazil, the Civil Defense is the government agency that responds to storms and disasters.

The construction site had been embargoed, meaning halted by authorities over irregularities, according to firefighters at the scene who spoke to G1. The cause is still under investigation. The state Civil Defense said the collapse is not directly related to the overnight rain and that, although it was raining at the time, it is too early to say the rain was the only cause. The city's emergency management center, the CGE, is monitoring the site.

A night of storms

The collapse came during a night of heavy rain in the city. The state Civil Defense had issued a severe alert for storms across São Paulo state, forecasting heavy rain, strong gusts and hail. According to CNN Brasil, by Saturday morning there had been 25 storm-related incidents in municipalities statewide, with one person injured, 23 left homeless and 66 displaced; no deaths or missing people have been officially linked to the rain. The strongest gust, 92.6 km/h, was recorded in Piraju; in the capital, the peak was 51.5 km/h.

Other collapses were reported overnight in the metropolitan area. In Jabaquara, in the south of the city, a lot with three houses gave way around 4 a.m., according to Folha, and neighboring homes were ordered vacated as a precaution. In Jaraguá, in the north, a garage fell about six meters onto a house and left a car dangling. In Juquitiba, southwest of the city, a landslide hit one room of a house and another home collapsed, injuring a 49-year-old man. In Sapopemba, in the east, a house collapsed and 24 people were displaced, according to Civil Defense.

Advice from Civil Defense as the storms continue:

• Civil Defense sent 15 automatic cellphone alerts, known as Cell Broadcast, overnight to the coast, the Ribeira Valley, Greater São Paulo and other regions; further alerts may follow.
• During a storm, take shelter and avoid open areas, trees, utility poles and metal structures.
• Do not cross flooded areas or flowing water, and stay away from roof tiles, signs and other weak structures during high winds.