Southern Brazil, scene of war due to floods

Porto Alegre. Southern Brazil It’s a war scenewith entire cities that are under water and thousands of people cut off in the worst climate catastrophe in the region that until yesterday had left 78 dead, 150 missing and more than 135 thousand evacuated, the authorities reported.

From the flooded streets or the air the images are devastating: houses whose roofs are barely visible, people who lost everything, while the center of modern Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, is completely flooded. .

Thousands of people, including soldiers, firefighters and volunteers, are working to rescue residents who were isolated, in many cases without basic supplies such as water, food or electricity, as well as in the search for 150 missing people.

It is a war scenario and should also have post-war treatment.expressed the state governor, Eduardo Leite, together with the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The president traveled to the southern state yesterday for the second time this week to coordinate actions in order to mitigate a tragedy that continues to grow.

The federal government will expedite the delivery of all necessary resources for reconstruction, Lula promised the day after Leite asked for a plan Marshall for the state, which has 11 million inhabitants.

For that, declared the state of public calamity in 265 locations, which will unlock the direct transfer of funds for aid. Calls for donations in the 341 affected cities are multiplying, as are solidarity actions.

Eduardo Bittencourt, a 36-year-old businessman, explained in Porto Alegre how he organized with a group of volunteers to rescue people trapped in their homes with type vehicles. pick-up. Things are very complicated, we are helping whoever we can, but it is the law of nature.

Army troops are working to set up field hospitals because hundreds of patients had to be evacuated from medical care centers. From schools to prisons, all types of infrastructure were affected.

The water supply is interrupted in 70 percent of Porto Alegre – with almost 1.4 million inhabitants – and its metropolitan region, where there are entire towns submerged, such as Canoas, Guaíba and Eldorado.

In the streets of Guaíba, which are converted into rivers, hundreds of boats, inflatable boats and jet skis come and go without pause rescuing residents trapped, wet and without electricity. And the waters advance uncontrollably towards the metropolis.

According to the mayor’s office, the level of the Guaíba River, located in the city, was 5.30 meters above the record of 4.76 meters recorded during historic floods in 1941.

The central streets of Porto Alegre remain covered in water, while thousands of people from emergency teams, the army and volunteers fight against the clock to find 150 missing people. Photo Afp

I already swim in kayak

Rosana Custodio, a 37-year-old nurse, managed to leave her home in Porto Alegre last Thursday and arrive with her family at her mother-in-law’s house. My husband put my two little girls in a kayak and paddled with a tacuara (rod). Me and my son swam to the end of the street and started walking in water up to our necks..

But on Friday history repeated itself. We were rescued by a boat of friends. Since then she has been with her family in a shelter. “We lost everything we had.”

Like her, more than 18 thousand people were housed in shelters.

The exceptional situation has Porto Alegre practically under siege.

The Highway Police pointed out that the arrival from the south is cut off about 15 kilometers away, while from the north it is still possible to access the city.

The Porto Alegre international airport, whose runway is under water, is closed indefinitely.

The boy and climate change, disastrous cocktail

From the Vatican, Pope Francis sent a message of encouragement to the population of Rio Grande do Sul.

The Lord has the deceased in his heart, he comforts the family members and those who had to leave their homes.he lamented in front of San Pedro Square.

Is he disastrous cocktail of climate change and the meteorological phenomenon of The boy which favored devastating rains in southern Brazil and other extreme events, warned Brazilian climatologist Francisco Eliseu Aquino.

Porto Alegre is a city founded by Portuguese immigrants in 1772 and located in the middle of a huge hydrographic basin, with rivers and lagoons; It was developed under the influence of its bay, which was key to the growth of Brazil, the Andean Development Corporation reports on its website. Today, that blessing turned into a misfortune with thousands of people affected.

The government of Rio Grande do Sul warned of the danger of more landslides or road collapses that have already left countless routes cut throughout the state, as well as in the neighboring northern state of Santa Catarina.