Flood: After 1 month, 15 thousand families have already been assisted and Civil Defense will request closure of critical points | Acre

“The post-flood consists of relocating families who were in shelters, those who cannot return home. We are doing this, we are assisting all the families that were affected. We have already reached 15 thousand families and we are going to reach another 5 thousand families, totaling a total of 20 thousand, to provide humanitarian aid, which is the delivery of supplements, food, cleaning materials, water, mattresses, all of this to us you see, everything post-flooding”, explains the organization’s coordinator, lieutenant colonel Cláudio Falcão.

He also highlights that assistance to families will also reach rural areas, where producers suffered losses totaling R$50 million.

The level of the Acre River reached 17.89 meters on March 6th and was less than 60 centimeters from the highest historical level ever recorded, 18.40 meters in 2015. This was the second biggest flood in history, since measurement began in 1971.

See the evolution of the Acre River level from overflow to ebb

Spring reached 17 meters for the 6th time in history, since 1971

Source: Municipal Civil Defense

With the reduction of water levels, Civil Defense began monitoring erosion points and those at risk of landslides.

On March 14, two houses and a workshop collapsed on a stretch of Rua Poços de Caldas, in the Cidade Nova neighborhood, in the Second District of Rio Branco due to the low river Acre. Four vehicles were also swept away by the water. According to the Municipal Civil Defense, no one was injured, but there is a risk that more homes will collapse and that is why they were evacuated.

The following day, a new landslide hit part of the land of a restaurant in another part of the neighborhood, on the banks of the Acre River. The landslide collapsed a house and a wooden deck and hit the grounds of a restaurant.

According to Falcão, it had not yet been possible to complete monitoring and repairs in areas that were hit by the 2023 flood and new problems arose due to the flood in 2024. The coordinator states that areas such as the Calçadão da Rua Raimundo Escócio will be closed to prevent pedestrians from circulating, as the areas have ground movement.

“These are points that were already catalogued. With the flooding, it started moving again, and we are going to ask for closure and isolation, because the fissure is getting bigger. As there are other points too, both on the First District side, and also others on 6 de Agosto, and other points. So, there’s a lot to see,” she says.

In addition to the already known points, the Municipal Civil Defense coordinator highlights that new areas are being monitored as they presented a risk after the flood. These are points in the Montanhês and Novo Horizonte neighborhoods that will be analyzed to find out whether they are just geological accidents or situations with a greater risk of landslides.

“These new points, we are carrying out a technical study of them, to see if it is not just an accident, and that it will no longer move, or if it will move, if it is erosion, but we had no longer had this contact. This is the case in Montanhês, it is the case in Novo Horizonte. So, we are still doing this ongoing work, to be able to detect new points”, he concludes.