Thousands of electricity customers in Rio de Janeiro remain without power two days after a severe windstorm damaged the electrical grid.

The prolonged outage has sparked public protests and caused significant loss of perishable food, highlighting vulnerabilities in the region's energy infrastructure during extreme weather events.

The storm struck on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, bringing maximum wind gusts of 125 km/h [6]. The high winds toppled more than 260 trees [5], which crashed into power lines and damaged the grid across the city of Rio de Janeiro and the Baixada Fluminense region. Two people died in Rio de Janeiro as a result of the storm [4].

Reports on the scale of the outage vary. Some data indicates approximately 40,000 customers of the Light and Enel concessionaires are without electricity [1]. Other reports suggest the impact is wider, with estimates ranging from 124,000 families [2] to 156,000 properties left in the dark [3].

Residents have expressed growing frustration with the speed of the restoration efforts. In the Baixada Fluminense region, people have faced the challenge of navigating darkened stairways and dealing with spoiled food in their refrigerators as the outage persisted through Friday, July 31 [1].

The delays in restoring power have led to a wave of protests against the utility companies, Light and Enel. Residents said the slow response from the concessionaires has exacerbated the crisis following the initial windstorm damage [2].

“Two people died in Rio de Janeiro as a result of the storm”

The discrepancy in reported outage numbers, ranging from 40,000 to 156,000 properties, suggests a lack of real-time coordination or transparency between the utility concessionaires and public reporting agencies. This infrastructure failure, coupled with the slow restoration time, underscores a systemic struggle in Rio de Janeiro to maintain grid resilience against increasing weather volatility.