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Tornado Rips Through Brazil’s Chapecó Airport, Shattering Terminal Glass and Forcing a Jet to Abort Takeoff

Editorial illustration of a dark tornado funnel over a small regional airport in green hills, with a hangar roof peeling away and an unmarked jet waiting on a wet runway

A tornado tore through the airport in Chapecó, a city in southern Brazil, on Wednesday morning, shattering terminal windows, ripping roofs off hangars and forcing a jet to abort its takeoff. The airport is closed until further notice, and no injuries had been reported as of Wednesday, according to local reports.

Storm-chaser videos of a dark, wide funnel bearing down on the runway spread fast on X on Wednesday. Here is what Brazilian officials and news outlets have confirmed so far.

Officials confirm it was a tornado

Santa Catarina’s state Civil Defense agency confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that a tornado had passed over Chapecó, a city of roughly a quarter-million people in the western part of the state. According to G1, the agency said radar showed debris lifted into the air along with a rotation signature, and that it planned to fly a drone over the area to map the damage and the storm’s path.

Wind readings differ by station. Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) recorded gusts of up to 126 km/h (about 78 mph), while the state Civil Defense station in Chapecó measured about 93 km/h. Inmet had warned a day earlier of storms with hail and winds above 100 km/h across the region, Aviacionline reported.

Shattered glass and torn-off roofs at the terminal

The storm hit Serafim Enoss Bertaso Airport at around 10:30 a.m. local time, according to Aviacionline. The winds peeled metal sheets off roofs, twisted steel structures and blew out the terminal’s windows, including its main entrance. Folha de S.Paulo reported that the wind also moved an aircraft that was parked on the apron.

“The airport was left extremely damaged,” Walter Parizotto, director of Chapecó’s Civil Defense, said in remarks reported by Aviacionline. The airport’s manager, Filipe Dias Gomes, told local radio NDFM that the scale of the damage surprised the administration. He said forecasters had expected unusual weather, but not something this strong.

A jet aborted its takeoff mid-storm

Two planes were on the ground when the storm arrived, Gomes told NDFM, as reported by ND+. One took off before the tornado passed. The other, an Azul flight, had already moved to the runway when the storm reached its peak. It held its position, waited for the storm to pass and then returned to the apron without taking off.

Aero Magazine reported that two Gol and Azul flights heading from São Paulo’s Guarulhos airport to Chapecó turned back because of the weather. It’s still unclear whether the parked Azul jet was damaged.

Power outages and damage across the region

The damage reached beyond the airport. Folha reported that at least 60,000 people in Chapecó lost power, about 23% of the city’s population. Aviacionline put the statewide figure at more than 200,000 customers, including about 102,000 in Chapecó. Afternoon classes in city schools were canceled. The city government is handing out tarps so people can cover damaged homes and has started a drive to collect mattresses, furniture and clothes.

Later on Wednesday, a second tornado was confirmed in Xanxerê, about 44 km from Chapecó, G1 reported. The storms came with a cold front moving up from Rio Grande do Sul, where damage had already been recorded in 77 cities between Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to Folha.

What’s next

The airport is closed indefinitely. Before flights can resume, crews have to clear the debris, and Brazil’s Air Force command and the civil aviation agency ANAC have to sign off on the repairs. Both of the airport’s weather stations, the main unit and the backup, were damaged and must be fixed and recertified first. Passengers booked through Friday, Nov. 6, are being told not to go to the airport and to contact their airline about rebooking or refunds. Civil Defense’s drone survey should show how strong the tornado was and what path it took.