Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink: Brazil’s flooded south grapples with access to essential goods
- Five of major southern city Porto Alegre’s six water treatment facilities aren’t working; mayor says water to be used only for ‘essential consumption’
- Region braces for further pain as more rain and cooler temperatures are expected; floods among extreme weather events being seen globally
Brazilian city of Porto Alegre underwater after the deadly flood. Photo: AFPLast week, major flooding in southern Brazil left at least 90 people dead and more than 130 others missing. Now, some four-fifths of the population is without running water in a major city. The mayor has appealed to residents to abide by his water rationing decree.
Efforts were continuing to rescue people stranded by the floods in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, as more rains were forecast for the region into next week. The capital, Porto Alegre, has been virtually cut off, with the airport and bus station closed and main roads blocked because of the floodwaters.
The floods in Brazil are among extreme weather events being seen around the world.
Five of Porto Alegre’s six water treatment facilities aren’t working, and Porto Alegre Mayor Sebastião Melo on Monday decreed that water be used exclusively for “essential consumption”.
“We are living an unprecedented natural disaster and everyone needs to help,” Melo told journalists. “I am getting water trucks to soccer fields and people will have to go there to get their water in bottles. I cannot get them to go home to home.”
The most urgent need is drinking water, but food and personal hygiene products are also in short supply. Other Brazilian states are mobilising trucks with donations bound for Rio Grande do Sul.
Public health experts say there is also growing risk of disease as much of the region remains submerged, warning that cases of dengue fever and leptospirosis, a bacterial disease, in particular could rise sharply within days.
Close to the airport, about 100 people of a nearby slum set up tents on the road, hoping to return to their shacks on small boats to try to save some of their belongings. Some roasted chunks of meat on improvised grills.
The downpour has stopped for now, but a looming cold front will bring more severe rain, mainly in the southern part of the state, according to the National Meteorological Institute.
Porto Alegre’s metropolitan region is one of Brazil’s largest, home to around 4 million people.
Damage from the rains has already forced more than 150,000 people from their homes. An additional 50,000 have taken refuge in schools, gymnasiums and other temporary shelters.
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Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Rio Grande do Sul for a second time on Sunday, accompanied by Defence Minister José Múcio, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad and Environment Minister Marina Silva, among others.
Authorities said Monday that they are concerned about the risks of hypothermia, as the temperature should drop to 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) on Wednesday. On Tuesday, Melo issued a plea for more donations of blankets.
And it isn’t just residents who are at risk.
“Our personnel has been wet for five days, shivering in the cold, staying up all night, in deficient sanitary conditions, because we’re sharing the same facilities with the displaced,” General Hertz Pires do Nascimento, the army commander of Brazil’s southern region, told journalists.
Security is another concern. Rio Grande do Sul’s public security secretariat said in a statement that police will beef up operations to prevent looting and theft. Brazil’s national guard is mobilising to the state to reinforce security.
The flood disaster is also likely to affect the South American country’s food supplies. Rio Grande do Sul produces 70 per cent of a basic Brazilian foodstuff – rice.
“With the rains, I think we’ve definitely delayed the harvest in Rio Grande do Sul. So, if needed to balance production, we’ll have to import rice, import beans,” Lula said in a radio interview to Brazil’s public broadcaster.