Floods caused by heavy rains in southern Brazil They left almost 60 dead and 67 missingan unprecedented climate disaster that this Saturday hit the modern city of Porto Alegre hard.
Last Thursday, intense rains that hit the state of Rio Grande do Sulin southern Brazil, left at least 10 people dead and 21 missing. Civil Defense also reported that the rainfall also forced the evacuation of 3,393 people in more than 100 municipalities in the state and many of them were transferred to shelters.
The overflowing of water channels and landslides keep numerous roads interrupted in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, with almost 300 towns affected, many of them isolated.
On Saturday, the rapid rise in the last hours of the Guaíba River flooded the historic center of Porto Alegre, one of the largest cities in southern Brazil, with a population of almost 1.4 million.
According to the mayor’s office, Its level marked 5.09 meters, above the record of 4.76 meters, recorded when the city suffered historic floods in 1941. Numerous streets were under water and residents tried to evacuate their homes.
In the midst of the chaos, a gas station exploded
In the midst of the rescue efforts, a Strong explosion at a gas station left at least two dead in the north of the city. The incident occurred when vehicles working in rescues were refueling at the flooded service station, from where a thick cloud of smoke emerged, visible from afar.
In many places, long lines formed to try to board a bus, while car drivers tried to make their way through the floodwaters. The situation forced the cancellation of the arrival and departure of buses to the city’s main station, located on the banks of the Guaíba.
The Porto Alegre international airport suspended its operations on Friday for an indefinite period.
In the Navegantes neighborhood, in the northern area of Porto Alegre, José Augusto Moraes de Lima asked the firefighters for help to rescue a child who was trapped in his house, since a leg problem prevented him from taking him with him.
“Suddenly, in a matter of minutes, everything flooded. I lost everything, television, wardrobe, bed, refrigerator,” the 61-year-old shopkeeper told AFP in distress.
The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, said it was a “dramatic” and “absolutely unprecedented” situation. In addition, the mayor of Porto Alegre, Sebastiao Melo, reported that “despite the great containment effort”, a dam on another river that flows through the city, the Gravataí, began to overflow.
“The communities must leave the place,” Melo wrote on the X platform.
Melo also asked the population to ration water, after four of the city’s six treatment plants had to be closed.
The disaster left by the storm in Brazil
The persistent rainfall has left localities isolated by the Falling bridges and collapsing roads. For this reason, the authorities urged citizens to evacuate their homes if they are in areas near rivers or on hills, due to the risk of landslides.
According to the first reports, the losses in the affected areas are around 100 million reais (about US$20 million) and the armed forces provided aircraft capable of performing night flights to undertake rescues in difficult-to-access areas.
However, bad weather conditions make work difficult in some locations. Throughout the state, some 130,000 people are without drinking water and the Telephone and internet services are interrupted in at least 60 municipalities.
In turn, the ruler explained that meteorological instability will continue in the coming daysand rainfall will reach unprecedented levels in some areas.
Eduardo Leite asked the President not only support with federal resources as aircraft to carry out rescues, but with “the effective participation and leadership of those who have training for a situation of chaos and war.” For his part, the vice governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Gabriel Souza, expressed a “special concern“by the dams on alert, “with risk of breaking and flooding.”
Source: Ambito
