Brazilian authorities confirmed on Wednesday the strong wind that had caused four deaths and property damages in the southern states early this week was a tornado.
The wind and accompanying rain led to the deaths of four people at Guaraciaba in the Santa Catarina state where another 168 got injured in the hectic weather condition.
A total of 1.5 million people were affected by the tornado which left them without electricity and forced authorities to declare a state of emergency in 17 towns of the same state. Of the tornado-affected, 1,100 were now homeless and 7,000 others had to relocate temporarily.
Strong winds and flood are common in Santa Catarina especially during the summer months. Last November, a succession of storms caused a huge flooding and several mudslides in the southern state, killing 135 people and forcing about 90,000 away from their homes.
The recent frenzy of bad weather also affected neighboring states of Parana and Rio Grande do Sul and the Sao Paulo state to the northeast.
In Sao Paulo, a woman died when her house was hit by a mudslide on Tuesday. Her three children, also in the house at the time, were still missing. Two brothers aged three and nine years old died in another mudslide in Sao Paulo, capital town of the namesake state.
Weather authorities warned that bad weather would persist until at least Friday in the southern region of the country.