The Guaíba, which until it crosses the capital is called Rio Jacuí, receives all the water that falls in the center of the state. Porto Alegre is the last city on the route to its outlet into the Atlantic.
In smaller municipalities along rivers that are part of the same river basin, entire communities appear to have been wiped off the map. In Estrela, the Taquari River reached a record height of 33 meters. This happens just six months after he reached his maximum elevation, which was 29.53 meters. When the water exceeds 19 meters, the river overflows and reaches houses and a nearby industry.
With the catastrophe, much measuring equipment was lost. Buffon, from the SGB, says that poles installed on the banks of the rivers were probably washed away by the flood, and sensors that are in contact with the water are hit by large objects that end up in the water: rocks, vehicles, house debris.
In São Leopoldo, bathed by the Rio dos Sinos, also part of the Guaíba river basin, families who always believed they lived in safe neighborhoods leave their homes. Biologist Daiana Schwengber ran from Porto Alegre to help her parents in the interior and now everyone is sheltering at a friend’s house.
“The water rose very quickly. We started clapping in front of people’s houses to help the Civil Defense warn people to get out. It was very sad. Lots of elderly people, everyone shocked,” Schwengber told DW about the situation in São Leopoldo.
Overlap of weather phenomena
Marcelo Seluchi, coordinator of the Natural Disaster Monitoring and Alert Center, Cemaden, says that the week of rain was expected, but not in the volume recorded. The explanation lies in an overlap of climate phenomena that turned the central region of Rio Grande do Sul into a “target”.
Tags: Rio Grande Sul exposed catastrophes
