Big riders travel to help victims of the Rio Grande do Sul tragedy | surfing

A group of well-known names in giant wave surfing are on their way to Rio Grande do Sul to help combat the tragedy that has been plaguing the state for the past few days. Led by famous big riders such as Will Santana, Pedro Scooby, Lucas Chumbo and Michelle des Bouillons, the surfers are traveling overland in a train with several people. The group is taking jet-skis, normally used in tow-in surfing, in which surfers are placed in and removed from the water using watercraft.

Surfer Will Santana goes to Rio Grande do Sul to help flood victims

The convoy left Rio on Sunday morning. Surfers should arrive in Rio Grande do Sul early this Monday morning. The surfers intend to use the jet-skis to rescue victims and bring supplies to residents who are isolated due to the flood. By the beginning of this Sunday, the storms had already left 75 people dead.

– We are here on the road with full support from the Civil Defense and Fire Department, everyone is waiting for us, so that we can provide our knowledge with jet-skis, to be with the victims, to save as many people as possible. It’s me, Scooby, Chumbo, more friends (…) I hope everything goes well. Canoes, we are arriving – said Will in a video posted on social media.

Pedro Scooby has also been posting details of the trip on his Instagram profile. In one of the videos, the Rio native revealed that he was one of the authors of the idea of ​​bringing together the main names in Brazilian big wave surfing heading to Rio Grande do Sul.

– I called some friends of mine who ride giant waves with me, they activated other guys too. We managed to gather the best big wave riders in Rio, we are taking jet-skis and heading south. Hopefully we arrive in time to be able to help, it’s the least we can do – he commented.

Rio Grande do Sul has been suffering from storms since the middle of last week. In addition to the dead, there are 101 missing and 155 injured people. Civil Defense has 95.7 thousand people away from home, 15.1 thousand of whom are in shelters and 80.5 thousand are homeless, who receive shelter in the homes of family or friends. In total, 332 of the state’s 496 municipalities recorded some type of problem, affecting 707.1 thousand people.