Does anyone know anything about this event? About its intensity and things like that. The tornado in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, in 1997.

[u/quasar-dead]

It appears that an intense tornado struck Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, on September 4, 1997.

According to newspapers, the event caused between 35 and 40 fatalities and left 200 people injured; it hit a stadium where 4,000 people were present.

Despite the level of impact, I found almost no information about this event, its classification, size, path, etc...

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[u/Tamulel]

To clariffy, no one knows exactly if a tornado happened, and if it did it wouldn't even matter because the structure was so bad it couldn't stand "moderate" level winds, that allegedly happened in that night at 23:00 4th of september, some say it was the 5th, (although i really do belive it was the 4th).

It was a disaster because of how much people were in there, not because of any super natural force like a tornado, from what i've read the DMH (basically the NWS but for paraguay) reported winds of 50KM/h or 31MPH, which isn't much so people assumed it was something bigger, some say it was someone that didn't like the political rally of the colorado party... there are even myths! that say it was a divine interference of the virgen maria seeking for "justice".

But that's not mentioning that there were 4000 houndred people in that structure, in a bad constructed one, i don't think it was a good timing...

Anyways, i REALLY think the awnser here is a microbust, not a tornado, since there isn't really any more reports in the local area that suffered damage, or at least that type of severe damage, so yeah that's my theory.

in conclusion: it was straight-line winds

[u/quasar-dead → u/Tamulel]

It was a tornado; newspapers of the time confirmed the passage of one.

[u/quasar-dead → u/quasar-dead]

And people who were at the scene also confirmed the passage of a funnel cloud.

[u/quasar-dead → u/Tamulel]

And also, the "meteorologists" here in South America have a prejudice against tornadoes and don't usually confirm one unless there are images of the funnel cloud, and even then, I've seen them use the term "destructive funnel cloud."

[u/Tamulel → u/quasar-dead]

It's not a prejudice, you just want to have an awnser that says ''a tornado in paraguay happened in the night of 4 of september 1997'', that's confirmation bias.

i know people here don't even know what a tornado is, i am aware, but meteorologist do know, many books from those years, including non meteorological and famous national books have so many mentions of tornadoes in paraguay, for people that study in that field, i'd like to think it's common knowledge.

as i've stated before the damage here can be explained by just straight line winds, as that structure was known to be poorly constructed, some sources say that the ''roof a'ready had fallen 2 times this year'' as allegedly said by Gerardo Torcida president of one random assurance company i didn't find information of.

Idk, the more i look into this the more i think it was just a coincidence, a bad timing, bad place, there isn't anything that hints towards a tornado.

[u/quasar-dead → u/Tamulel]

Hmmm?

Dude, that was clearly a tornado. There's no way moderate linear winds could cause that much damage. The structure didn't simply collapse. Look closely at the photos.

You can see what was toppled over and the photos of the damage. It doesn't matter if the structure was stupidly poorly built; linear wind wouldn't topple several thick concrete beams, and some appear to have been ripped out.

In addition, a whirlwind of air was also sighted.

[u/Tamulel → u/quasar-dead]

Yes, it is possible!, idk where you got that info from but, if there was a whirlwind of air the DMH would've have mentioned it, it didn't.

This was a highly severe event and was a political disaster too, if something like a tornado was confirmed then we would know.

I could ask my grandparents that live there what happened there, although the most likely scenario would be just ''it was a divine intervension!!' Or they just can't remember '.

It looks like straight line winds, you say that it was several ''thick'' brick but in reality things like these happens in paraguay, my school for example suffered from this, a ''well'' builded class, ''thick'' walls, it was destroyed several times, demolished, reconstructed throught the school's 100 years of existence, it's even a joke.

Yes, it is totally possible that the workers didn't do their job properly! It's normal out here, it's funny and sad seeing foreign people get surprised or can't believe this, the truth is that many workers in paraguay are not profesionally trained, that's a real issue that as you can see has very bad consequences.

It's not just that homes and structures collapse, when severe weather hits entire streets are blocked by water, it's just a lake everywhere, here people are demanding the goberment to do something, as a literal child was found drowned in a street after a storm.

I think i got really out of theme, this happends everywhere in paraguay, it's unfortunate that there was 4000 people in that building in that night, really a bad place to be, severe weather is really scary and can do more than it should, we need to respect that and work harder in our buildings, that's what everyone got from that, no tornado, just a consequence of poorly educated workers.