Flood isolates Porto Alegre and deepens management of Brazil’s worst climate crisis

Rio Grande do Sul has been involved in a dramatic task for days: at the same time as it counts its dead — there are already 78, according to the most up-to-date figures from the Civil Defense —, it is rushing to locate missing people, keep those injured alive and rescue “islands” , so that no one else gets into the macabre statistics that cause pain to a population that was still recovering from the passage of a cyclone, which left 54 ​​deaths and a trail of destruction in its wake, in 2023. The state faces its second climate event in less of a year — only this time stronger and more unprecedented.

Until now, 780 thousand people were hit in some way by the biggest flood recorded in the state’s history — and which puts Brazil on the list of countries most affected by climate disorder. The numbers of chaos follow: at least 261 thousand points are without electricity and other 854 thousand residences in Rio Grande do Sul they don’t have water. Telephone and internet services are not working in dozens of municipalities.

According to Civil Defense, there are 110 sections of highways with total or partial blockages due to the collapse of bridges, accumulation of water or collapse of slopes — including some of the main roads that cross Rio Grande do Sul, such as BRs 116 and 386.

The water has snaked through the interior of the state over the last few days and is now reaching the capital, Porto Alegre, with greater force, which finds itself isolated by land — with the bus station and important access roads taken over by water and mud — and by air. , with Salgado Filho airport closed with no plane authorized to land or take off.

See here what to do if you have a flight scheduled to arrive or depart from Porto Alegre.

Porto Alegre island

Even more structured, the situation in Porto Alegre is worrying. Lake Guaíba, a postcard that borders the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, is the repository of the downpour that flowed through the interior and raised its volume to unprecedented levels. 5.3 meterson Sunday afternoon (5).

The waters cover streets and avenues from north to south of the capital, including the Historic Center, flooding areas that had never been reached by floods and driving an unknown number of residents from their homes. School classes were suspended, and schools in the capital became temporary shelters.

Sarandi, a neighborhood in the north zone with 91,300 residents, was the first to receive the evacuation order. The overflow of a dike is expected to bring a significant volume of water to the region, causing destruction to homes and putting anyone there in danger, warned the Integrated Service Coordination Center (Ceic), an agency of the Porto Alegre city council.

Race for rescues

The rapid rise in the level of the Guaíba and its tributaries causes a rush for rescues in Porto Alegre and the neighboring cities of Eldorado do Sul and Canoas.

Islanded residents have used social media and WhatsApp groups to share their location in calls for help, and users update online maps with addresses of isolated people.

“We need rescue!!! Water rising non-stop. Running out of battery”, wrote in X a woman from Eldorado do Sul, who was in an apartment with 20 people while the flood threatened to reach the second floor of the building, on Saturday (4).

Dozens of volunteers who practice water sports or fish in the Guaíba joined the Army, Fire Department and Civil Defense teams in the search for residents who live in communities taken over by the river. Until this Sunday, the city recorded more than 4 thousand rescues.

Resident of Ilha da Pintada, Kaeli Moraes was taken by jet ski from her home with her husband and three children when the flood was five steps away from reaching the second floor. They were only able to leave the place because Kaeli’s father removed the bars from the living room window, from inside a boat, and the family was able to jump to the roof of the house opposite.

“There was flooding in September, then in November. And now, this. Everything only gets worse,” he said, mentioning the two floods last year that also flooded the islands of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.

At Usina do Gasologista, residents who arrive only have the clothes on their backs, documents and, in some cases, cell phones. “Of material goods, those who had a lot and those who had little were left with nothing. At this time, we have to save our lives”, said fisherman Marcos Brandão, who, rescued on a small boat, had to abandon the family’s pitbull on a slab that was still intact.

With his jet ski submerged in a garage, Fabiano Saldanha borrowed one from an acquaintance and, since Friday (3), he estimates that the group made up of him and three friends helped around 50 residents of the islands. The jet skis, he says, travel at the height of the light poles and pass over cars submerged in the maze of water that has swallowed the roads, under the strong current of the Guaíba. “We enter the streets and only hear ‘help’, ‘help’. It’s very sad, it’s a war,” he reported.

Teams of rescuers from at least nine other states in the country work in operations, especially in locations where help needs to arrive from the sky. In a scene that went viral on social media, a man from the Army Aviation Command broke the roof of an island house with a brick and hoisted a baby into a helicopter in Lajeado.

How to track the weather?

To increase the level of prevention, the population of Rio Grande do Sul can register and receive weather alerts from Civil Defense. Just send the zip code of the location via SMS to the number 40199. A confirmation will be sent and the number will be available to receive information.

It is also possible to register via Whatsapp: number (61) 2034-4611. A customer service robot will interact and the user will be able to share their current location or any other location of interest to receive messages from Civil Defense.

Crisis Cabinet

The federal government set up a crisis office to centralize work in the State. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returned to Rio Grande do Sul this Sunday, three days after his first visit since the beginning of the crisis, alongside 13 ministers and the presidents of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and the Senate , Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).

“I repeat and insist: the devastation to which we are being subjected is unprecedented. It is time to join forces in favor of our State”, published the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite (PSDB), on social media, before meeting with Lula.

Lula, after visualizing the destruction from above, promised lines of credit to recover the cash of companies devastated by the tragedy and a different regime for sending financial resources to Rio Grande do Sul, which will take a while to see its ground dry and recovered — in all senses.

(With information from Reuters and Agência Brasil)