The heavy rains that hit Rio Grande do Sul throughout this week left, in addition to 66 confirmed deaths as of this Sunday morning (5), hundreds of thousands of people without basic services. According to the latest Civil Defense update, a total of 839,000 properties were without water supply across the state.
This number, equivalent to 27% of the properties served by the company Corsan, is already smaller than the total number of homes that were left without supplies during the weekend, according to Civil Defense bulletins. On Saturday night, more than a million homes were left without water.
Furthermore, on Saturday morning there were 421 thousand properties without electricity. According to energy distributor RGE Sul, responsible for 264 thousand addresses that are without electricity, 8.5% of its customers were affected. CEEE Equatorial, which accounts for 157,000 points without electricity, reported that 8.7% of the homes it serves were affected.
According to Civil Defense, 332 municipalities were affected by the historic flood, which corresponds to more than half of the municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul. There are 707,190 people affected by the tragedy.
Classes were suspended in the 2,338 schools in the state network and almost 200,000 students were impacted. A total of 250 schools had their structures damaged by the consequences of the rain. The state government informed that, on Sunday afternoon, it would publish the guidance for returning to school for the state network.
Situation in RS after the rains
- 66 deaths
- 101 missing
- 155 injured
- 707,190 affected people
- 15,192 homeless
- 80,573 homeless
- 421 thousand properties without energy
- 839 thousand properties without water
Across the state, the storms also caused damage and changes in traffic on state highways in Rio Grande do Sul. According to the latest update, this Sunday, there were 113 sections in 61 of them, with total and partial closures, between roads and bridges. Seven highways with closures were reopened throughout Saturday.
On Saturday night, the government of Rio Grande do Sul reported that two dams were in an emergency situation, with an imminent risk of collapsing. One of them is the 14 de Julho hydroelectric plant, between the municipalities of Cotiporã and Bento Gonçalves, which had a partial failure last Friday (3). Furthermore, the São Miguel dam, also in Bento Gonçalves, was in a similar situation.
Another five dams in the state were at alert level, which occurs when “anomalies represent a risk to the safety of the dam, requiring measures to maintain safety conditions”.
The rains that devastated cities in Rio Grande do Sul also reached Santa Catarina and Paraná, causing another three deaths.
Rio Grande do Sul’s Civil Defense issued an alert regarding the rise in the level of the Guaíba River, affected by heavy rains last week. The advice is for those who live in lower areas to seek shelter in safe places. In a note, the agency informs that the highest areas will not be affected with the same intensity as the lower ones.
DAWN HAD RAIN AND INTENSE RESCUE ROUTINE
Rain fell again in Greater Porto Alegre and in municipalities in the northern region of the state during the early hours of this Sunday. In Canoas, in the metropolitan region, people created a human cordon in the water to help the boats that arrived all the time with people rescued from flooded areas.
On Saturday night, Governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB) stated that the region will need a kind of “Marshall Plan”, in reference to the United States’ plan for rebuilding allied countries after the Second World War.
Leite stated that the arrival of reinforcements will be important for other areas of action, such as the recognition of bodies and the reconstruction of stays. The priority at this time, however, is the rescue of the victims.
“Everything that can be used is being used. More people will arrive. Not because they didn’t arrive earlier because they didn’t want to, but because this mobilization takes time,” he said when asked about the federal government’s help in this effort.
President Lula (PT) will return to the state this Sunday (5) to closely monitor the crisis.
