Brazil

In a dramatic display of nature’s force over human engineering, a towering 35-meter replica of the Statue of Liberty—24 meters for the statue itself atop an 11-meter pedestal—collapsed in Guaíba, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, on December 15, 2025. The iconic landmark for the Havan retail chain succumbed to fierce wind gusts exceeding 90 km/h during an extratropical storm system battering southern Brazil.Viral footage captured the fiberglass structure slowly tilting before crashing into the store’s parking lot. Swift action by employees and civil defense alerts ensured the area was evacuated in time, resulting in no injuries despite the statue’s location near busy roadways.Havan confirmed the structure, installed in 2020, held required technical certifications (Anotação de Responsabilidade Técnica). Only the upper section fell, leaving the base intact. This marks the second such incident for the chain, following a 2021 cyclone collapse.As extreme weather intensifies, this event highlights the need for enhanced structural resilience in public icons—urging advanced wind-load modeling and real-time monitoring to prevent future failures