River levels rose again on Sunday as heavy rain lashed southern Brazil, where floods killed more than 140 people and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.
Residents of the state of Rio Grande do Sul were preparing for the new misery of the new rains, after two weeks of torrential rains caused the rivers to overflow, swallowing cities and parts of the regional capital.
More than two million people were affected by the flood, which experts associate with climate change exacerbated by the El Niño climate phenomenon.
Levels of “virtually all of the state’s major rivers are likely to rise,” state officials said Sunday.
The new threat comes at a time when rescue operations are still ongoing, with around 130 people missing, while more than 538,000 have been forced to flee their homes.
The probability of new floods is “very high” in most regions of the state, according to the National Center for Monitoring and Alerting of Natural Disasters (Cemaden).
The Guaíba, an estuary that borders the capital Porto Alegre, reached its lowest level since May 3 on Saturday.
However, the new rains have once again swelled the water mass and levels are expected to rise above five meters again.
Its banks overflow by three meters.
Guaíba reached historic levels of 5.3 meters on May 5th and 6th.
-‘Aggravation of the situation’ –
Other already overflowing rivers in the region also saw water levels continue to rise.
The flooding of the Taquari River has put the small town of Mucum on alert, where more than 40 people were killed by a devastating cyclone last September.
The city of Pelotas, south of Porto Alegre, “is facing a worsening situation” that “increases the likelihood of flooding”, warned its mayor Paula Mascarenhas on Instagram, calling for the evacuation of risk areas.
Parts of Porto Alegre, home to 1.4 million people, also remain underwater.
According to the National Institute of Meteorology, “heavy rain” will continue in the coming hours, with more than 100 mm per day in some areas.
In the northeast of the state, there is “a high risk of major floods and river overflows, in addition to significant landslides”.
In a video published on X for Mother’s Day, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed his “solidarity” with those affected, of whom more than 80 thousand are currently housed in shelters.
“You are not alone,” he said.
The federal government this week promised around US$10 billion for the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul.
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