The inhabitants of the neighborhoods near the Guaíba River in the city of Porto Alegre were waiting for the floods they faced this Friday but They didn’t think they would be so serious such as those caused by the rains of recent days, which have already left at least 40 dead in southern Brazil.
The climate catastrophe caused by heavy rains in the south of Brazil worsened this Friday, with the increase in the number of dead and affected, while the advance of the waters threatened the capital of Rio Grande do Sul with “unprecedented” floods, the authorities warned.
The rescue brigades tried to reach and supply numerouss isolated municipalities, without communications and with blocked roadsand even without electricity or water.
The exceptional volume of the rivers has multiplied the alerts in the state by dam breaks that could aggravate the disaster.
In Porto Alegre the situation “is going to be unprecedented,” said Governor Eduardo Leite.
“Forget everything you’ve already seen. In the metropolitan region it’s going to be much worse,” he warned.
The climatic phenomenon with intense rains, gales and hail has affected more than 351,000 inhabitants, with some 23,600 evicted in 235 municipalities.
But the figures are preliminary, given that the waters that cover enormous areas make it impossible to measure the disaster.
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva traveled to Rio Grande do Sul on Thursday, where he assured that “there will be no lack of resources” to face the crisis.
The government has provided 9 aircraft, more than 900 personnel and dozens of lifeboats, among other equipment.
Underwater capital
The water level of the Guaíba rose to 4.5 meters this Friday morning, its highest rise since 1941 (4.76 meters), and flooded numerous avenues in Porto Alegre, capital of Rio Grande do Sul. In this state bordering Argentina and Uruguay, 1.3 million inhabitants live, who for days have been living under unprecedented storms that would extend up to weekend.
The floods affected not only the areas close to the shore but also important avenues such as Mauá and Conceiçao and to the inter-municipal bus terminal and the training centers of Internacional and Gremio, the two largest soccer clubs in Porto Alegre.
Mayor’s office had warned that the rise in water would be historic and some inhabitants of the lower regions came to prepare, but they did not calculate that the situation would be so serious.
Such was the case of merchant Itamar Adams, 51, who on Wednesday helped his sister-in-law remove some of the furniture from the first floor of a house that they knew would flood. But this Friday he had to try again to rescue what they believed they had left safe on the second floor of the building.
On a boat to try to save something
“The situation is horrible. We still have many things to remove. On Friday we took a truck and removed what was on the first floor, even the refrigerator, because we knew that the water was going to rise quite a bit,” he said in an interview with EFE. .
The merchant added that this Friday he had to return, with a boat and a jet ski, to remove valuables, such as computers and appliances, which had risen to the second floor, where the waters also reached.
“We have already made six trips but the situation became complicated because the water current is very strong and it is becoming more and more risky. Some things, like the heavier furniture, we already lost. Fortunately we are all safe,” he said.
Other people who live in the regions near the Guaiba River were not so lucky and lost a large part of their belongings.
The worst thing is that the authorities anticipate that The water will continue to rise in the next few hours and that the flood, with a rise of up to 5 meters, will exceed the historical mark of 1941.
Blocked streets and bridges
The mayor’s office blocked about 200 streets in Porto Alegre and recommended that residents avoid the historic center. The bridges that cross the river in the direction of this city were also blocked, except for ambulances and rescue vehicles.
In Porto Alegre, without any fatalities so far, the tragedy is not as serious as in other municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul, where the rains, according to the latest Civil Defense bulletin, on Friday early afternoon, They left at least 37 dead, 74 injured, 74 missing and 351,639 people affected.
At least 7,949 people are in public shelters and another 23,598 in the homes of relatives or friends in at least 235 municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul.
A day after visiting the affected region, the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stated that this is “one of the largest floods” of which he is aware and repeated that the Government is not going to spare resources to address the tragedy. .
