When commenting on the damage caused by storms that hit Rio Grande do Sul, the chief minister of the Social Communication Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Paulo Pimenta, said, this Friday (3), in Brasília, that the state is experiencing its biggest meteorological catastrophe.
He recalled a historic flood recorded in Rio Grande do Sul in 1941 and said: “I’ve never seen anything like it. I know our state a lot. I have faced several delicate, dramatic situations. But I can assure you that there has never been a flood like this. Anyone from Rio Grande do Sul has always heard about the famous, historic flood of 1941. This flood we are facing will far surpass what happened in our state in 1941,” he said.
“We had a very serious situation in the state in September last year, but this phenomenon will certainly surpass it, in terms of severity – by a lot. It continues to rain. There is a prospect that this rain, in some regions, will remain until next Sunday. At this moment, we have 141 highways blocked, including state and federal highways. This means that some cities are already running out of fuel. City hall machines that were working on cleaning and unblocking do not have diesel. There are cities with water and food shortages. Ambulances cannot circulate in the state and doctors on duty cannot reach the cities”, highlighted the minister.
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When participating in interviews with radio stations during the program Good morning, Ministerfrom the Brazilian Communication Company (EBC)Pimenta assessed that the focus of the federal government, at this moment, is focused on rescuing victims of floods and floods.
“We still have hundreds of people stranded. Now in the morning, as soon as the day dawns, we move practically all the helicopters we have to the Vale do Taquari region. We will work with around eight to nine helicopters throughout the entire day”, he revealed.
“Unfortunately, the weather conditions make the work very difficult. We are talking about those heavy helicopters, where the rescue is done with the helicopter in the air. The teams have to rappel down by rope to look for people who are on roofs, in flooded areas, where the helicopter cannot land. Therefore, it is not a simple operation. Some of these helicopters do not have the ability to fly at night. [Eles] They need visibility for this, it can’t be raining, it can’t be foggy. There are regions that have a high voltage network and this makes operations very difficult due to the risk of accidents.”
Numbers
Civil Defense Bulletin of Rio Grande do Sul – released this Friday morning (3) – counts 31 deaths as a result of the rains that are ravaging the state.
There are still 74 people missing and 56 injured. In total, 235 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul have so far been affected by storms, totaling 351,639 people affected. Of these, 17,087 are homeless and 7,165 in shelters.
In an interview last Thursday (2), Governor Eduardo Leite, from Rio Grande do Sul, highlighted that the numbers should rise over the next few days. “With the deepest pain in my heart, I can say that it will be even more than that, because we are not able to access certain locations”, he concluded.
*Fabiola Sinimbú collaborated.
