rain leaves 1 million properties without water, closes hospitals and threatens 12 dams

The intense rains that hit Rio Grande do Sul left more than 1 million properties without water and 418 thousand without electricity.

In the ten-day period, between April 24 and May 4, the region was devastated by rain that accumulated a total of 420 millimeters — a volume equivalent to three months of precipitation, as released by the state government.

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A Civil defense issued flood warnings for 16 municipalities in the Porto Alegre Metropolitan Region. The agency warned that not all areas would be equally affected and recommended that residents of lower areas seek refuge.

There is a flood alert for 16 municipalities in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre: Barra do Ribeiro, Canoas, Cachoeirinha, Charqueadas, Eldorado do Sul, Gravataí, Guaíba, Montenegro, Nova Santa Rita, Novo Hamburgo, Pareci Novo, Sapucaia do Sul, São Leopoldo , Taquara and Triunfo.

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And it doesn’t stop there. The constant rise in river levels puts pressure on 12 dams, according to the governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB). The 14 de Julho Dam, between Cotiporã and Bento Gonçalves, partially failed on Thursday 2.

Rain closes hospitals

This extraordinary situation caused the closure of 17 hospitals and reduced the service capacity of another 75, Eduardo Leite said in a press conference. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was also present in the conversation with journalists.

The flooding crisis led to the transfer of patients by helicopter, after the Canoas Emergency Hospital (HPSC) was flooded. Telecommunications infrastructure was also affected, with numerous municipalities without telephone and internet services.

Floods also shake the infrastructure of Rio Grande do Sul

The floods did not spare the State’s road network and imposed 187 road closures, 142 total and 45 partial. Another direct consequence of the rain was the closure of Salgado Filho Airport, which had its runway and apron flooded on Saturday 4.

Amid the crisis, the governor expressed concerns about the state’s fiscal capacity to respond to the disaster. Lula said that bureaucracy will not be an obstacle to the recovery of Rio Grande do Sul, mentioning the creation of a plan to anticipate this type of disaster.

Eduardo Leite compared the effort needed to rebuild the State to the Marshall Plan, referring to the North American financial assistance program for the reconstruction of Western Europe after the Second World War.