As I drafted this report, I typed and erased the introduction at least ten times. I aim to be the most professional and unbiased journalist possible but, at this moment, I simply cannot be. This is my city, Porto Alegre, that lies beneath the waters of the Guaíba River. This is the state where I was born, where floods are sweeping through regions where thousands once lived.
It is incredibly challenging to distance oneself from a news topic when it is your own life. Thankfully, my parents’ house was built in a higher location in Porto Alegre. The same good fortune has allowed them to shelter neighbors, relatives, and friends who have lost everything to the rains that began on April 29th in Rio Grande do Sul.
It’s even harder to hear reports from friends who have lost family members and possessions that took a lifetime to acquire. The latest bulletin has revealed the magnitude of the tragedy: there have already been 107 deaths, a number that is likely to increase in the coming days with more than 136 people still missing.
Over 1.5 million people have been affected by the rains in 431 municipalities; 60,000 have been rescued, and over 327,000 have lost their homes with nowhere else to go.
My state, located in the far south of the country, had barely recovered from the floods of last September and now, six months later, it is experiencing its worst environmental disaster in history.
In the past week, it has rained like never before in southern Brazil with over 800 millimeters of accumulated water – eight times more than expected for this time of year in this region.
So much water in such a short period has caused the rivers to overflow. The Taquari has reached the 33-meter mark and devastated entire cities where few houses remain standing and entire families are homeless. In the state capital, Porto Alegre, the Guaíba River, which runs through the city, has reached a level of 5.30 meters – a level never before recorded in history.
We are feeling the effects of climate change firsthand, the rising temperatures, and the influence of El Niño. Places where I never imagined witnessing such a vast amount of water are now submerged. The school where I studied is not even recognizable from the facade. The riverfront where I used to walk has vanished. The stadium where I cheered for my soccer team has turned into a large pool.
These are memories being devastated by global warming. They are warnings that much worse events could hit Brazil and anywhere else in the world.
And why such devastation?
The data speaks for itself. Since the tragedy of the last flood in September 2023, the city of Porto Alegre has not invested a single cent in flood prevention. This situation persists even though the department responsible for the area has a budget of R$ 428.9 million (US$92 million). That information was retrieved from the Transparency Portal of Porto Alegre.
The investment in flood prevention in Porto Alegre has dropped for two consecutive years to eventually reach zero. The budget includes an item called “Improvement in the flood control system” which received no funds last year.
Márcio Astrini, Sdecretary-General of the Climate Observatory, one of the most important environmental associations in Brazil, says that the blame for the lack of prevention must be shared among all levels of government.
“The conservative majority has been approving various projects considered harmful to the environment. We’ve never had a Congress so dedicated to dismantling,” he notes.
For Astrini, actions limited to emergency responses in crisis situations are no longer sufficient as they may have been in the past. Extreme events like the one happening in Rio Grande do Sul –increasingly common due to climate change – can no longer be treated as “unforeseen”.
The expert also argues that while it is not always possible to accurately predict the intensity of an extreme event and the extent of the tragedy for the population, we already know that such events will become more frequent and what measures need to be taken to adapt.
“The biggest problem we face at the moment is not prediction, it’s acceptance,” says Astrini. “We need to accept that, unfortunately, this is the new normal. But it’s not enough to accept it passively; we need to accept it and take action.”
Record of disasters
The natural phenomenon El Niño and global warming caused by human activities led to a record number of climate disasters in Latin America and the Caribbean in 2023. According to a report released this week by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), around 11 million people in Latin America were affected by environmental disasters last year, most of which were climate-related. Economic losses amounted to over US$20 billion.
In its latest report on the state of the climate in the region, the UN agency emphasized that last year was the hottest on record. It also highlighted the acceleration of sea level rise and glacier retreat and noted “a significant shift” in rainfall distribution that caused droughts and forest fires as well as floods and landslides.
The results are an increase in hunger and disease throughout the region. For example, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile are experiencing dengue epidemics, with over three million cases reported in just the first half of 2023, according to the WMO.
