Brazil: Ongoing flood destroys towns, causes chaos
Following a recent report warning of even more rising temperatures, Brazil has made headlines around the world for a deadly flood which is being linked to global warming.
Mass floods have ravaged through the streets of many cities throughout Brazil, leaving whole towns destroyed and thousands homeless from the 27th of April to the 8th of May, reports Reuters on the 7th of May.
The environmental watchdog, Climate.gov’s January study on the effects of climate change stated that “Earth’s temperature has risen by an average of 0.11° Fahrenheit (0.06° Celsius) per decade since 1850.” A heatwave caused by this year’s El Niño phenomenon, which warms the waters of the pacific, has been attributed to the extreme rainfall in Rio Grande do Sul.
As rainwater sweeps across villages, rescuers have rushed to evacuate helpless victims who have been stranded by the ongoing floods across the Southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
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Bodies are piling up with 90 people reported dead, 131 people still unaccounted for and a mass 155,000 people homeless, reports the Civil Defence agency, while the survivors are desperately seeking food and basic supplies.
On the outskirts of Eldorado do Sul, 17 kilometers (10.5 miles) from the state capital of Porto Alegre, many people were sleeping roadside and stressed that they are going hungry as they struggle to find supplies. Families carrying their belongings in backpacks and shopping carts left their homes on foot to find some sort of refuge.
One such victim, Ricardo Junior, who is a young man struggling to cope with the mass floods, stated “We’ve been without food for three days and we’ve only just got this blanket. I’m with people I don’t even know, I don’t know where my family is.”
While many try to escape towns that are completely engulfed in water, Dozens of people are still waiting to be evacuated either by boat or helicopter as the flooding has hampered rescue efforts. Small boats have been meandering through the wreckage searching for survivors.
The rain forecast is to dwindle on the 9th of May; however, it is expected to continue from the 10th to the 12th.
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The floods throughout Brazil follow mass floods that hit Dubai from the 15th to the 18th of April, that lead to the closure of Dubai international airport for two days to try and clear floodwater from the terminals.
Global warming exacerbates these phenomena and intensifies the effects between such systems, making weather unpredictable, said Marcelo Schneider, a National Meteorology Institute (Inmet) researcher.
Such unpredictable weather could cause problems for rescue teams or wreckage repairs in the following weeks, putting more civilians in the southern Brazilian state in danger.
Reuters/ Climate.gov.
