Flooded houses, homeless and displaced people, and uncertainty about their next steps, this is how many people from flood-hit cities in Rio Grande do Sul live, and some travel to Santa Catarina in search of a safe place.
Street became a ‘river’ after the water level rose, in Cachoeirinha – Photo: Macarthur Lara/Reproduction/ND
Gauchos were left homeless after floods
With the closure of Salgado Filho Airport, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul lives practically in isolation and those who saw the water carry away almost everything they had are looking for a new place to start over.
MacArthur Lara, 35 years old, had to leave the house where they lived with his parents, as the property is located in Cachoeirinha, in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, and on the banks of the Gravataí River, which belongs to the Guaíba Hydrographic Region.
The gaucho left home on Friday (3) and managed to take shelter in a hotel located in the highest part of the city, which soon ran out of places due to the high demand. He and his parents arrived in Florianópolis on Tuesday (7).
“I was doing my routine like everyone else, between work and home. One day I woke up and found it difficult to leave the house due to the volume of water, but I went to work. The next day the same thing happened, but during my lunch break while I was working, a friend warned me to return home because one of the containment dikes near my house had broken,” he recalls.
MacArthur’s sister lives in Florianópolis and was the one who gave the family shelter after the floods. She left the capital of Santa Catarina with donations to deliver to the victims of the tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul and returned home with her parents and brother.
“My parents managed to leave the house because I decided to leave work and go home to check the situation. When I arrived at the street where I lived, residents were leaving their houses and the Civil Defense team ordered the immediate removal of the place”, says the publicist.
“I entered the house with the water already up to my knees, I only had time to ask my parents to collect their documents and leave. […] The water rose so quickly that by the evening of the same day it had already reached the roof,” he says.
The first to be removed from the residence was MacArthur’s mother who, according to him, has mobility restrictions due to several surgeries carried out in the spine region.
Publicist recorded the situation of the street where he lived in Porto Alegre – Video: Macarthur Lara/Reproduction/ND
“I left her in a safer spot 500m from home, then I went back and looked for my father. At that moment the water was already rising to knee height. We didn’t save anything other than our lives and some documents.”
It is 466.8 km and almost 6 hours of travel from Cachoeirinhas to Florianópolis, more specifically Jurerê, the neighborhood where MacArthur now lives with his family.
“We are currently waiting for the water to recede to assess the extent of the damage. We left to have a safe shelter to stay, drinking water and electricity. When the situation stabilizes, we will be able to draw up a plan to resume life there, account for the losses and, as far as possible, try to reinhabit the place”, he adds.
Family managed to leave the house before the water level rose – Video: Macarthur Lara/Reproduction/ND
