Flood in Brazil left a trail of devastation: “Years of work finished in a few hours”

Brazilian Daniel Alves, 47, felt an omen of bad luck when the dirty water reached his knees. As the level of the Jacúi River rose, his building and his entire neighborhood in the city of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, were submerged under several meters of water. He and his family of three were isolated for 24 hours, desperate and at the mercy of the weather, until rescue teams were able to reach them this past Saturday. Many neighbors like him have lost everything due to severe flooding caused by an intense rain storm last week, one of the biggest climate disasters in Brazil’s recent history. “What is happening is devastating. We thought the rain would stop, but it didn’t,” Alves says over the phone. “There’s no explanation for it.”

In Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, which has a population of 11 million, more than half of the municipalities have been affected by these unprecedented floods. Authorities have so far counted 75 people dead, 103 missing and 155 injured. According to the state government, about 700,000 people have been affected, 80,000 have been evicted, more than 4,000 properties are without power and 800,000 are without water. Civil protection bodies in the state capital, Porto Alegre, and Rio Grande do Sul reported that at least 18,000 people had been moved to shelters.

“This is the worst disaster recorded in the history of Rio Grande do Sul. Perhaps it is one of the biggest disasters recorded in the recent history of the country,” Governor Eduardo Leite told a press delegation on Saturday. A state of public disaster has been declared in the area. Leight fears that many services in the most populous cities will collapse in the coming days.

Federal, state, and municipal governments have mobilized a large portion of public authorities to carry out rescue and shelter operations; Hundreds of firefighters, police and civilian volunteers work in search and rescue. From Brasília, 100 members of the National Force were sent to Rio Grande do Sul on the afternoon of Friday, the 3rd, and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who flew to the region this Sunday accompanied by the Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira. , and from the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco – promised to send millions of reais to the joint efforts. “Now is the time to help Rio Grande do Sul,” Lula said this Sunday. This is the second visit of the President during this crisis.

Destroyed bridges and blocked roads have made distribution of aid difficult in the affected areas. Many towns lost a large part of their land access, and others, such as Mukum and Sinimbu, became isolated.

In southern Brazil, such severe flooding was rare in recent decades. But in the past year, the number of extreme weather events has increased worryingly. In the past nine months alone, Rio Grande do Sul has suffered three significant floods: in September 2023, last January, and currently. Santa Teresa, a small town of 1,700 residents, has been one of the cities punished by these three.

62 year old Rudy Birk has lost everything twice. The owner of a shoe store and a small insurance agency in Eldorado do Sul, his business was flooded during the rainy season last September. When the Jaqui River invaded his home, he decided to grab whatever he could and fled with his family, on the 1st, to the city of Lazado. Now, he cannot return to the town where he has lived for 40 years because the Lajedo bridges have collapsed and access to land has been blocked, but he fears his home will sink. “I don’t even know if I have a house to live in anymore,” Birk says over the phone. “We are shaken and emotionally devastated. Years of work wasted in a few hours, days. Cities destroyed, friends and families lost. We are alive and we can begin again.

Birk regrets that his state did not take more preventive measures in view of the impending disaster. He believes many lives could have been saved if authorities had learned from recent climate disasters and been more agile. “We already had an event in September to use as an example and preparation, but nothing was done. “We saw many unsung heroes here, entering the swift currents with their small boats and risking their lives to save strangers.”

The solidarity that Birk mentions was visible throughout Rio Grande do Sul On Saturday night, under heavy rain and with water at chest height, dozens of volunteers joined together in a large human circle, consisting of There were small boats filled with rescued people. Mathias Velho neighborhood of Canoas. Others, in many other places, volunteered on social media to personally search for people trapped on rooftops.

In Porto Alegre, early this Sunday the Guaiba River, which circles the entrance to the city, reached a historic height of 5.32 meters above its natural level; The largest in over 80 years. Its water was transferred to the entire historic center of the city. Till Saturday, the speed of rise of the river was 8 centimeters per hour. In areas near the river, most roads were flooded, with cars and electric poles covered in water and dirt.

The Gasometro plant, an emblematic century-old building that serves as a postcard of Porto Alegre, with its 117-meter-high chimney, located on the banks of the Guaiba River, now focuses the actions of rescue teams for victims. Flooding of small islands and the metropolitan area that makes up the city. The homeless are taken in boats to a grand building and landed in a makeshift port.

On normal days, the wide banks of the Guaiba River attract thousands of locals who walk, exercise and take pride in the beautiful sunsets that the place offers. Today, this area decorated with mud and tents is dominated by adversity, pain and despair. Public agents and volunteers provide dry clothing and food to people who arrive, and then transport people who have lost everything to shelters.

A study conducted by the Institute of Hydraulic Research (IPH) of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul indicates that high water levels of about five meters in the regional capital will remain stable for the next three days, without reducing flood levels. , three meters, next week.

Now many people want the rain to stop and the water level to decrease.

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