Spanish
A replica of the Statue of Liberty, an icon of the Havan store chain, collapsed this Monday in Guaíba, in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, due to intense gusts of wind that exceeded 90 km/h during a storm that affected the area.
The structure, 24 meters high on an 11-meter base, slowly tilted before falling onto the parking lot of the megastore located on Nestor de Moura Jardim Avenue.
Fortunately, no injuries or damage to vehicles were reported, as the statue fell in an area with few cars.
The incident was captured by witnesses and went viral on social media. Havan reported that the fall only affected the statue and that all its structures have a Technical Responsibility Annotation (ART) and were installed in accordance with engineering standards since 2020.
The base of the statue remained intact, while the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul had issued red alerts for extreme winds that caused other damage, such as falling trees and destruction in several cities in the region.
The event recalls the force of natural phenomena and the importance of safety protocols in large structures, especially in the face of extreme weather events.
