‘I put her in my backpack’, says father who saved 8-day-old daughter from floods in RS | Rio Grande do Sul

Father helps rescue daughter in Porto Alegre neighborhood

A father reported to GloboNews, this Wednesday (8), who saved his eight-day-old daughter from the floods in Porto Alegre, last weekend. Faced with a devastating scenario, Patrick says he used a backpack to protect his daughter Lara while escaping the water through the roof of the house.

He would have picked Lara up on the second floor of the house. There he lined a backpack so she wouldn’t get hurt and would stay safe.

“I hugged the backpack with one hand and used the other to move around. It was the only way. There was a lot of water. If it fell into the water, there would be nothing I could do. That’s the way I thought. Using the backpack to get through over the roof”, reported Patrick.

The most recent bulletin from the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul kept the number of deaths at 100 due to the storms hitting the state. The 6pm update this Wednesday (8) points out that there is 2 other deaths being investigated. The state records 130 missing and 374 injured.

There is 230.4 thousand people away from home. Of this total, 67.4 thousand are in shelters and 163.7 thousand are homeless (people staying with family or friends). RS has 425 of its 497 municipalities with any report of a problem related to the storm, with 1.476 million of affected people.

Patrick, his wife Joyce and Lara, now 12 days old, are safe in one of the 124 shelters provided by Porto Alegre city hall. On the other hand, the future is unpredictable, as the floods in the Capital left the family destitute.

“We have nothing. The water took over the entire house. We went through two floods. The others were not as aggressive, but now we have nothing. The only thing we have is a mattress and some clothes”, he said Patrick.

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Cities in the south of RS are already experiencing disruptions due to the rain. In Pelotas, at Praia do Laranjal, residents are on alert to leave risk areas. According to the city council, 400 people are in shelters. Classes in municipal schools were suspended until next Friday (10).

In big Riverin Lagoa dos Patos, more than 200 people are away from home. In total, 223 are homeless and 49 are in shelters. Jaguarão It is São Lourenço do Sul are also already suffering the impacts of rain.

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