Floods in Rio Grande do Sul: looting of stores and attacks on rescue boats worsen crisis

Looting of stores, threats to rescuers and attacks on rescue boats, including one with military police on board, add a component of insecurity to the already dramatic situation of those affected by the floods in Porto Alegre, the metropolitan region and much of Rio Grande do Sul. South.

On Monday afternoon (6/5), the press office of the State Security Secretariat announced that the Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) of the Military Brigade, a unit destined for strategic actions, will take on overt patrolling to curb the bandit action.

In Canoas, in the metropolitan region, between Friday (3/5) and Sunday (5/5), fear caused volunteers to give up work overnight.

According to the Military Brigade, of the 30 civilian boats that participated in rescue actions on Saturday, only 20 had returned to activity on Sunday.

Faced with the situation, the Metropolitan Police Command (CPM) of the Military Brigade, responsible for the municipalities of Canoas, Nova Santa Rita, Esteio and Sapucaia do Sul, began emergency patrolling of the flooded area with two boats.

In the early hours of Sunday (5/5), two men tried to board one of the boats carrying military police officers in the Mathias Velho neighborhood, in Canoas, without realizing that there were uniformed and armed officers on board.

The duo was arrested red-handed. It was an isolated incident, according to the Brigade, which says that since then there have been no new incidents in the region over the weekend.

“It was a ‘boat’ in the wrong boat, pardon the pun”, joked the CPM commander, Colonel Márcio de Azevedo Gonçalves, in an interview with BBC News Brasil.

Gonçalves classified reports about possible cases of new attacks on boats and other episodes of violence both in the press and on social media as “disinformation actions”.

The authorities in Rio Grande do Sul had not released a report on incidents of attacks on property or violence since the beginning of the crisis until the publication of this report.

However, there are reports from residents of an attempted invasion of a flooded condominium in the São Geraldo neighborhood, in Porto Alegre. Shots would also have been heard.

Residents in the area who had not left the building took turns keeping watch on Sunday night to discourage attacks.

“We are making rounds. They have already tried to break into the building in front,” psychologist Sabrina Zotti told BBC News Brasil in a WhatsApp message.

BBC News Brasil was unable to independently confirm the report.

In the city of São Leopoldo, around 38 km from Porto Alegre, Brigade sources informed Rádio Gaúcha that criminals had adopted a tactic in flood zones: calling for help, taking control of boats, throwing occupants into the water and, in then use the boats to attack victims and homes.

Of the 220,000 inhabitants of São Leopoldo, around 180,000 were affected by the flooding of the Rio dos Sinos, according to the city hall.

Looting of stores, including a sporting goods store at Arena do Grêmio, in the north of Porto Alegre, has occurred since Saturday (3/5).

The action of criminals is facilitated in flooded areas due to the fact that the water has expelled occupants from houses, stores and warehouses.

In the most critical points of the metropolitan region, it was only possible to travel by boat until yesterday afternoon, despite the sun and heat.

On the first sunny day in more than a week and with thermometers showing temperatures close to 30ºC, Porto Alegre began this Monday (6/5) to contemplate the legacy of destruction left by the slow retreat of the waters of Lake Guaíba, in the biggest flood of the history of Rio Grande do Sul.

In the north and central areas of the capital, streets, squares and properties were still partially submerged in the early afternoon.

At noon on Monday, the level of Guaíba measured by the State Department of the Environment in Ponta do Gasologista, in the central region, reached 5 meters and 25 centimeters.

The record was 10 centimeters lower than the record reached at 5:30 am on Sunday (5/5), of 5 meters and 35 centimeters.

This height had surpassed by more than half a meter the 4 meters and 76 centimeters reached by Guaíba in the great flood of May 1941, 83 years ago. The lake’s flood level is 3 meters.

While new areas of the city were invaded by water, affected residents decided between staying and facing a scenario of possible greater shortages – around 70% of the city is without water – or facing kilometers of traffic jams at the city’s only usable exit.

The intention of operations to aid the victims is to speed up work until Tuesday (7/5), as a cold front is expected to arrive that will reduce temperatures and worsen the conditions for evacuating people, in addition to increasing the risk of hypothermia in people waiting for rescue in the open or in the rain.