SAO PAULO (AP) — Heavy rains in Brazil’s southern state of Rio Grande do Sul have killed 39 people and 68 others remain missing, the state’s civil defense agency said Friday . record floods devastated cities and forced thousands of people to leave their homes.
This is the fourth such environmental disaster in a year, following floods in July, September and November 2023 which killed a total of 75 people.
Flooding across the state exceeded that seen during a historic 1941 deluge, according to Brazil’s geological service. In some cities, water levels were at their highest since records began nearly 150 years ago, the agency said.
On Thursday, the dam of a hydroelectric plant located between the towns of Bento Goncalves and Cotipora partially collapsed and entire towns in the Taquari River valley, such as Lajeado and Estrela, were completely submerged by water. In the town of Feliz, 80 kilometers from the state capital, Porto Alegre, a swollen river swept away a bridge that connected it to the neighboring town of Linha Nova.
Operators reported power, communications and water outages across the state. More than 24,000 people had to leave their homes, according to civil protection.
Without internet, phone service or electricity, residents struggled to provide updates or information to loved ones living in other states. Helicopters continually flew over towns while stranded families with children waited for help on rooftops.
Streets are flooded after heavy rains in Sao Sebastiao do Cai, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Macedo)
Isolete Neumann, 58, lives in the town of Lajeado, in the Taquari River Valley, and told the Associated Press she has never seen a scenario like the one she is experiencing now.
“People were setting up barricades in front of hospitals with sand and gravel. It looked like a horror movie,” she said by phone. Some people in her area were so desperate, she added, that they threw themselves into the currents.
Neumann’s neighborhood hasn’t flooded, but there is no running water and she hasn’t showered since Tuesday. She said she collects rainwater in a basin so she can cook. A clothing store she owns in the center of the city is flooded, she added.
“I don’t even know what it’s supposed to be like. There should be nothing left.
The showers began Monday and are expected to last at least until Saturday, Marcelo Seluchi, chief meteorologist at the National Center for Monitoring and Warning of Natural Disasters, told Brazilian public television on Friday.
On Thursday evening, Governor Eduardo Leite alerted the state’s population – known as gauchos – of continuing rains and flooding. The situation is expected to get worse in Porto Alegre, he added.
“As a human being, I am devastated inside, like all gauchos,” he said. “But as your governor, I am here faithful and I guarantee you that we will not falter. We do everything with focus, attention, discipline and indignation, to ensure that everything within our reach gets done.
On Friday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva recognized the flood victims during a press conference. alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Brasilia.
“The first words of Minister Fumio Kishida during the meeting we held were of solidarity with the people of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, victims of one of the greatest floods we have ever experienced. Never before in Brazilian history has there been such an amount of rain in one place,” Lula said.
The weather in South America is affected by El Niño climatic phenomenon, a periodic, natural event that warms surface waters in the equatorial Pacific region. In Brazil, El Niño has always caused droughts in the north and intense rains in the south.
This year, the impacts of El Niño have been particularly dramatic, with a historic drought in the Amazon. Scientists say extreme weather events are occurring more frequently due to human-caused climate change.
Residents and their pets evacuate a flooded area after heavy rains in Sao Sebastiao do Cai, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Macedo)
Karina Lima, a 36-year-old scientist and doctoral student in climatology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, told the Associated Press that the state is located in a region with certain characteristics that amplify the destructive potential of El Niño.
“Models have long predicted that Rio Grande do Sul will continue to experience an increase in average annual precipitation and extreme precipitation, meaning more concentrated and intense precipitation,” she said.
