A powerful storm with winds reaching up to 90 kilometers per hour has affected at least 4,000 families across central, northern and eastern Paraguay, with authorities reporting significant damage to homes, power infrastructure and crops in the departments of Caaguazú, San Pedro and Cordillera.

The Directorate of Meteorology and Hydrology analyzes destruction patterns to determine whether the phenomenon was a tornado or downstream. Photo: EFE.

A powerful storm with winds reaching up to 90 kilometers per hour has affected at least 4,000 families across central, northern and eastern Paraguay, with authorities reporting significant damage to homes, power infrastructure and crops in the departments of Caaguazú, San Pedro and Cordillera.

Caaguazú, a department known for its agricultural and livestock activity, registered some of the most severe damage. In the district of Yhú, Mayor Arturo Rey Jara told local radio station that roughly 400 homes suffered damage of varying severity, while the electrical grid was compromised across nearly the entire district.

The storm also caused “substantial damage” to fruit and vegetable crops that serve as a primary source of income for local families. “The most precarious homes have suffered the worst damage,” Rey Jara said, lamenting that many low-income families were affected and are in urgent need of assistance from response teams being deployed to the area.

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Arsenio Zárate, head of Paraguayan National Emergency Secretariat (SEN), detailed on Wednesday that Tuesday afternoon’s storm left a preliminary toll of 20,000 people affected.

Zárate said most reports involved damage to home roofing, causing what he described as “significant impact” across the three affected departments, leaving many families in vulnerable conditions.

⛈️🌧️Tormentas afectaron varios puntos del país

Lluvias, ráfagas de viento y hasta granizadas perjudicaron a varias localidades del territorio nacional, árboles caídos, viviendas desplomadas y cultivos dañados fueron algunas consecuencias del temporal.🧊⚠️ pic.twitter.com/9icP7CfSpG

— SNT Canal 9 (@sntparaguay) September 30, 2026

Text reads: “Storms affected several points of the country. Rains, gusts of wind and even hail damaged several localities in the national territory, fallen trees, collapsed homes and damaged crops were some consequences of the storm.”

Tornado Or Downburst?

Given the scale of the destruction, Paraguay’s Directorate of Meteorology and Hydrology is analyzing damage patterns to determine whether the storm was a tornado or a downburst. Director Eduardo Mingo said preliminary wind speed estimates range between 70 and 80 kilometers per hour, though residents in areas including J. Eulogio Estigarribia and the Bertal and Sommerfeld colonies reported gusts exceeding 100 kilometers per hour. Those areas registered total losses of poultry, the destruction of farm sheds, and the deaths of cattle.

“While linear damage indicates unidirectional winds, a tornado produces torsion and a circular destruction pattern,” Mingo explained. He noted that “current records remain partial,” and that the agency is working alongside the National Emergency Secretariat to analyze videos and photographs from the affected areas. The storm’s official classification on the Fujita scale will be determined following a detailed on-the-ground damage assessment.

To respond to the emergency, the National Emergency Secretariat (SEN) will rely on logistical support from the armed forces, whose resources were made available by the Ministry of Defense. Zárate linked the storm to the broader El Niño climate phenomenon, which Paraguay’s government had previously forecast would be of “strong intensity” this year, warning of the potential for intense rainfall and river flooding. Zárate had earlier stressed the need to strengthen prevention measures ahead of this climate pattern, while Mingo noted that Paraguay sits within a severe storm corridor that stretches from Bolivia down through the greater Río de la Plata basin.

📅 29 September 2026
📍 Tobatí, Cordillera, Paraguay

Strong storm surprises workers in clay quarry with violent winds and heavy rain#Paraguay #Tobati #Cordillera #TemporalParaguay #Storm

❤️🔁 pic.twitter.com/1mukZBv5uQ

— 24/7 Weather phenomena Observer (@24weather24) September 30, 2026

The storm adds to growing concerns about extreme weather events across the region this year, as meteorologists continue monitoring the effects of the current El Niño pattern on rainfall and storm intensity throughout South America’s interior.

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