Brasilia.-The floods caused by heavy rains in southern Brazil have already left 96 dead and 1.5 million homeless, on the eve of new storms that will affect the region even more, regional authorities reported.
In addition, the Civil Defense has counted, so far, 131 missing and 362 injured due to the unprecedented rains and floods that mainly affect the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
So far, 401 municipalities have been affected; “practically the entire state,” said Eduardo Leite, governor of Rio Grande do Sul, the region most affected by the rains, in a press conference.
The announcement of new storms starting this Wednesday, and that will be stronger between Friday and Sunday, has the authorities on alert who are already preparing contingency measures.
According to the National Institute of Meteorology (INMET), in the coming days “heavy rains and storms” are expected in the southernmost area of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, throughout the border area with Uruguay, due to the arrival of a front cold.
The governor called on the inhabitants of municipalities that were already affected and that will possibly fall again in the crosshairs of the rains to remain in the shelters and only return to see what happened to their homes when the authorities confirm complete safety for their homes. lives.
“It is not time to return home or be in the places that were affected,” said the governor, who also warned that the new rainfall will have an impact on several municipalities and the metropolitan area of the capital, Porto Alegre. where landslides are expected.
Rio Grande do Sul has been the Brazilian state hardest hit by rains, with at least 95 fatalities, while the neighboring state of Santa Catarina recorded one death.
In total, there are already 1.5 million people suffering from the lack of food, medicine and basic services such as light and energy, of which some 160,000 are taking refuge in the homes of friends or relatives and another 48,799 in improvised shelters. The authorities.
Shirley Martins da Costa, who at 65 years old is going to have to start over, is one of the refugees in these shelters.
This is the second time that this woman, who suffers from diabetes and lives with a colostomy, has suffered the consequences of floods, since the neighborhood where she lived in Navegantes, Farrapos, had already suffered from last year’s rainfall.
“Everyone said that the water was coming, but I didn’t believe it (…) but since I have several health problems I thought it would be better to leave before waiting for the water to arrive,” he told the EFE news agency.
For now, she is calm along with 499 other people in a sports hall in the Menino Deus neighborhood, where the authorities guaranteed that there will be no flooding even though several surrounding streets are completely flooded.
“But when this is over we are going to leave with one hand forward and one behind,” warned this woman who hopes to have a home again with the help of the regional government.
“I don’t need a big house. “I live alone, with a good room and a bathroom it would be enough,” she added.
The floods in recent days in southern Brazil affected some 80 indigenous communities and forced 466 families of indigenous peoples to abandon their villages or reservations, official sources reported this Tuesday.
According to the state-run National Indian Foundation (Funai), 1,846 indigenous families were directly affected by the floods and another 5,415 indirectly, mainly from the Kaingang and Charrua ethnic groups.
At least 47 villages, 14 Indigenous Lands and a reserve of these two peoples were impacted by the largest natural disaster in the history of Rio Grande do Sul, a state in the extreme south of Brazil bordering Argentina and Uruguay.
In addition to the 466 families forced to abandon their communities to flee the floods, another 148 are isolated in the Río da Várzea Indigenous Land, in the jurisdiction of the municipality of Liberato Salzano, due to the destruction of the only access roads.
The organization Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of the Southern Region published on its website a map with the location of the towns that have been affected by the rains since last Thursday.
In addition to the Kaingang and Charrua ethnic groups, which are the most affected, other people impacted by the weather disaster are the Guarani Mbya and Xokleng, in communities distributed in 49 different municipalities.
The most impacted communities, both of the Mbya Guarani people, are located in the Porto Alegre metropolitan area, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul and where numerous neighborhoods were flooded by the Guaiba River overflow.
According to the organization, the affected indigenous people need mattresses, blankets, tarps and mainly food and drinking water.
The national secretary of Indigenous Territorial Rights, Marcos Kaingang, sent by the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples to Rio Grande do Sul to lead the work to support the affected ethnic groups, stated that the main concern is with the communities that remain isolated and with the families sheltered in churches, schools and gyms.
“Our role as representatives of the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples is to seek the necessary means and support, such as food baskets, which is the first demand of these families, as well as medicines and personal hygiene items,” said Kaingang, quoted in a statement from the Ministry.
The official stated that the Ministry works so that indigenous peoples are included in humanitarian assistance campaigns without the risk of them being forgotten.
Brazil will import one million tons of rice to compensate for the damage caused to the crop by the serious floods that affect the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, the main producing region of the grain, the Government announced this Tuesday.
The Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, indicated that a decree is being prepared to authorize the importation of rice to guarantee supply and prevent the rise in prices.
Hours earlier, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, announced that the Government planned to import rice and beans to compensate for the drop in production.
“If necessary, to balance production, we will have to import rice, we will have to import beans, so that we can put on the table of the Brazilian people a price that is compatible with what they earn,” Lula said in an interview with a news network. public radios.
The product of most concern is rice, since Rio Grande do Sul is responsible for 68% of the national production of the grain, with around 10.2 million tons annually.
This year’s harvest had already been harvested in most of the region, but the rains and floods have caused damage to the fields where it was still in progress and also to the silos where the grain was stored, as reported this Tuesday by the Federation of Agriculture of Rio Grande do Sul (Farsul).
Farsul has not provided an approximate estimate of damage to the rice crop or other crops.Infobae.
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2024-05-10 08:03:26