The very serious floods that affect the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) have caused unprecedented devastation. 80% of the territory is under water, 108 lives have been lost and 136 people are still missing, according to the latest report released this Thursday. There are nearly 1.5 million victims in the territory hit by the floods, on the border with Uruguay and Argentina. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has announced economic aid measures for families, workers and companies with advance payment of social aid and credit facilities worth 50 billion reais (9 billion euros). Meanwhile, the rescues continue. The most spectacular, that of a horse that managed to climb onto a roof to take refuge, which television broadcast live. Although the water has begun to recede very slowly, the distribution of basic supplies is still very complicated.
In addition to the loss of life, more than 165,000 people have had to be evicted from their homes and another 65,000 have lost their homes, according to the Civil Defense balance sheet, meaning they have nowhere to return when the worst of the crisis is over. Those who have been able to have collected a few things and have moved to the coast or to high areas. The water of Lake Guaíba, overlooking the state capital, Porto Alegre, has begun to slowly go down. It has dropped to 4.95 meters, for the first time these days below five meters. But part of the city (of 1.3 million inhabitants) remains submerged by a flood that is the worst since 1941.
Hundreds of police officers, firefighters, soldiers and volunteers continue working to rescue the thousands of people who remain cut off due to the high water level and who are beginning to suffer from the lack of food.
Only the passage of days and hours has allowed us to progressively glimpse the magnitude of the very serious damage caused by the rain storm that began on May 30. A storm that was announced, but that was more persistent and serious than expected. From the first moment, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, asked the federal government for help and warned that a war operation was going to be necessary. The number of deaths and missing persons has not stopped increasing. The floods and their effects have affected practically all municipalities in the state.
The return of heavy rains forced the suspension of rescue efforts in Porto Alegre this Wednesday afternoon, where there are still completely flooded neighborhoods. In addition to the always bleak and shocking images of this type of disaster, on this occasion there are some unprecedented ones such as that of a horse, called Caramelo, on a roof in a completely flooded area or football stadiums with the grass turned into a swimming pool. mud. Porto Alegre’s airport will be closed at least until the end of the month, so small planes carrying supplies are landing on stretches of road.
The State is an important agricultural hub and already suffered extreme weather phenomena last year. In the last year this is the third fatal flood, also the worst. But it also suffered a rare extratropical cyclone. And the three previous years were a severe drought.
The catastrophe has generated an enormous wave of solidarity that has mobilized Brazilians, from the most humble to the most famous, such as the model Gisele Bündschen, who was born in Rio Grande do Sul, or the youtuber Felipe Neto. But also big businessmen like Tim Cook of Apple, or Elon Musk, who has announced that he will deploy his Starlink satellites in the area to help in rescue efforts.
Meteorologists emphasize these days that these types of extreme weather events are going to be increasingly frequent and intense due to global warming. And environmentalists have recalled that this type of damage is also a consequence of the weakening of environmental regulations. President Lula stated on Wednesday, during an event to present investments in areas of infrastructure and prevention of natural disasters, that this climate tragedy is “a warning to the world” and “a bill that the planet is passing on” to humanity.
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