Southern Brazil is experiencing its worst climate disaster due to an intense storm with at least 13 deaths

The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul has suffered the “worst climate disaster” after an intense storm. According to the authorities, the toll of 13 deaths in the territory will increase as the hours go by. The ‘gaúcho’ governor, Eduardo Leite, regretted in a press conference the deaths recorded and estimated that there are “many” those that have not yet been registered, after landslides and floods in isolated localities for 48 hours.

The death toll reached 13 this Thursday from a dozen the day before, and 21 people are still missing, the Civil Defense reported in the latest bulletin. But the data on the “worst climate disaster” in ‘Gaúcha’ land, said Leite, “are absolutely preliminary.”

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva promised that “there will be no lack of human or material resources” to “minimize the suffering that this extreme natural event is causing in the state.”

“The federal government will be 100 percent at the disposal of the state” for rescue and repair tasks, added Lula along with Leite, after arriving with a delegation of ministers to the town of Santa María, one of the municipalities affected by the intense rains.

“I have never seen anything like this”
“I’ve never seen anything like this (…) it’s all under water, it’s sad. And it’s going to get worse (…) Who can sleep at night? We don’t know how the water is going to rise, and when it reaches the door of the house we can’t lift anything,” Raul Metzel, a 52-year-old machine operator in Capela de Santana, told the AFP agency, shocked by the floods.

”We can’t do anything for anyone. Part of my family and other people I know are in Montenegro (affected by the Caí River) and I can’t bring anyone here because we have no way to go,” said Claudio Oliveira, a 54-year-old mechanic, with regret. The state of Rio Grande do Sul was declared in a “state of public calamity” as a result of heavy rainfall with hail and gales for a week.

The rains hit 147 municipalities and also left 12 injured and 67,860 affected. Some 9,993 people were evicted, authorities said. Leite highlighted efforts to “save lives,” given the threat of more river and stream overflows in the state in the coming hours. And he alerted the inhabitants of six mountain municipalities of overflows of the Caí River, after asking on Wednesday night to evacuate the homes in the Taquari River valley due to the hydrological risk. The authorities also reported the partial failure of a dam in the mountain municipality of Cotipora.

Although devastation is not expected in the area, the volume of water will raise the Taquari River. Aerial images released by the local government showed large areas covered by the brown waters of the Guaíba River, the state’s main waterway, which is expected to reach an exceptional level of three meters this Thursday and could reach four meters in the next 24 hours.

The federal government said that it made available a total of 12 aircraft, 45 vehicles and 12 boats, in addition to sending 626 members of the Armed Forces to help the affected population, distribute water and food, and set up shelter spaces, among other tasks. .

Isolated municipalities
Heavy rain should continue until Friday, weather forecasts indicate. Hostile weather conditions have made rescue efforts difficult, Leite said.

The National Institute of Meteorology of Brazil (Inmet) predicted strong winds with gusts, electric shocks, hail and precipitation that could “exceed 200 mm” in Rio Grande do Sul and the south of the neighboring state of Santa Catarina. The ‘gaúcho’ government also reported damage to roads and cuts in the supply of electricity and water for hundreds of thousands of customers.

Multiple municipalities are isolated, without telephone or internet. Classes had to be suspended in the state. And the Gaúcha Football Federation suspended all matches scheduled for next weekend.

Last September, at least 31 people died due to the passage of a devastating cyclone in Rio Grande do Sul. Experts attribute the extreme phenomena, increasingly frequent in Brazil, in part to climate change. Source: Infobae

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