Vice mayor of a city in RS rescues submerged horse in Canoas: ‘We would never let him die’; VIDEO | Rio Grande do Sul

Vice mayor of a city in RS rescues submerged horse in Canoas

The vice-mayor of Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Marcelo Santos da Silva, was once a horse tamer. However, he never imagined he would need lasso an animal in the conditions experienced last Monday (6). With water up to his neck, the politician rescued a drowning horse on a street in Canoas, in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre, one of the most affected by the floods.

“We were rescuing people, but when we saw the horse, we would never let him die”, says Marcelo Gaúcho, as he is known.

Santo Antônio da Patrulha, 80 km from Porto Alegre, between the Metropolitan Region and the North Coast, did not suffer major impacts from the storms and floods, which have already left 100 dead and 128 missing across the state.

With this, Marcelo traveled to help with rescues in Canoas, where more than 50 thousand people live in risk areas, 15 thousand were taken to 55 open shelters and 11 neighborhoods were evacuated due to the floods.

“I saw the horse walking everywhere, it was just with its nose out. I jumped into the water, to put a rope. I got on a ‘jet ski’ and went to stand for it. When I came back, the most beautiful thing: the horse wanted to come back together”, he reports.

Marcelo says that he did not find the owner of the rescued horse, and that he had to mount the animal to give it direction, as it appeared to be “bewildered”. The deputy mayor stayed between Sunday (5) and Tuesday (7) working to help those affected.

Marcelo’s action earned praise from the mayor of Santo Antônio da Patrulha, Rodrigo Massulo.

“I have yet to meet anyone more courageous, with more heart and with the drive to save lives than my deputy mayor. I can only ask God to always keep him like this,” he wrote on a social network.

This Wednesday (9), the vice-mayor returned to Santo Antônio da Patrulha, where the city hall set up a food collection point and a shelter for 200 people.

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 who are staying with family or friends). RS has 425 of its 497 municipalities with some report of a problem related to the storm, with 1.476 million people affected.

Aerial images show postcards of flooded Porto Alegre

Cities in the south of RS are experiencing severe disruptions due to the rains. In Pellets, in 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 River, in Lagoa dos Patos, more than 200 people are away from home. Altogether, they are 223 homeless and 49 in shelters. Jaguarão It is São Lourenço do Sul are also already suffering the impacts of rain.

Pelotas builds dikes to stop floods