Due to drought/drought and storms, Bahia has 149 emergency situations recognized by the Ministry of Regional Integration and Development. The decrees cover 137 municipalities, considering that some have two decrees in force at the moment. In the State, the Civil Protection and Defense Superintendency (Sudec) approved 94 decrees due to drought/drought and 23 due to heavy rains that caused losses.
Recognition means for municipalities that they are able to request resources from the federal and state governments, depending on each case, for civil defense actions, such as humanitarian assistance, reconstruction of infrastructure and reestablishment of essential services.
Through the Union, there are 116 municipal decrees recognized for drought (drastic reduction or absence of rain for a certain period of time). In 12 of them, decrees recognized by storms are also in force, such as Anagé, Jequié, Itaju do Colônia, Itororó, Contendas do Sincorá, Maiquinique, Pedro Alexandre, Quijingue, Caetité, Lagoa Real and Paulo Afonso.
What they have in common is the fact that all those affected by drought – a chronic and prolonged form of drought – are located in the region with a semi-arid climate in Bahia, which, according to a study published by the Superintendency of Economic and Social Studies of Bahia (SEI ), covers 85.6% of the entire territory.
Of the 417 municipalities in the State, 287 are in this area, which historically has less rain and, in 2022, had a total population of 7.5 million Bahians, representing half of the state contingent. Currently, Operation Carro Pipa (OCP Federal) serves around 370,000 people in 59 municipalities in Bahia, where the drought situation is most critical.
In Muquém do São Francisco, in the Vale São-Franciscano region of Bahia, two decrees with federal recognition are in force – due to drought, until June 4th of this year, and due to heavy rains/storms, in force until July 25th. Bordering the São Francisco River, the municipality is in the middle of a semi-arid region and has decrees also approved by the State due to drought and rain.
According to rural producer Clóvis Brandão, the difficulties faced by residents of the rural area of the municipality have been many. “Around here, it doesn’t rain much in a normal year and lately it’s been raining even less. It’s a shame to see the land dry, without producing anything and leaving families hungry”, he lamented, adding that in January this year it rained. “It seemed like the world was going to end in water. Then it was too much, all at once,” he emphasized.
Rain warning
The Virtual Center for warnings of severe meteorological events (Alert AS) of the National Institute of Meteorology indicates for today, in practically the entire Bahian territory, the Yellow Alert (weaker) for storms.
However, the Alert is Orange (second on the danger scale) in regions such as the extreme north, close to the border with Piauí and Pernambuco, and in the Southeast, in the Bahia region close to the border with Minas Gerais.
The weather forecast from the Meteorology Department of the Institute of Environment and Water Resources (Inema) also indicates instability for today in almost all regions of the state of Bahia, with light to moderate rains forecast. The tendency is for precipitation to intensify from tomorrow onwards.
