Rafael Adriano Peres could barely move as he lay on a mattress in a refuge center in Porto Alegre, after being hit by a car as historic floods swept through southern Brazil this month.
The 35-year-old broke two ribs but was unable to return home from hospital as water filled the property he shares with his wife.
“We don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We have to start from scratch,” said Peres, who worked in waste management in Porto Alegre, which is now largely submerged after the Guaíba River burst its banks.
Surrounded by a mountain of donated clothes and toys, almost 800 people were staying this Sunday in this large hangar in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul.
The state was ravaged by a climate catastrophe for almost three weeks, which killed more than 150 people and left around 100 missing.
– ‘It’s only getting worse’ –
Some people plan to return to their homes when the floods subside, but others, like Márcia Beatriz Leal, 50, who suffered three floods, have already lost hope.
“You fight to get everything back and then you disappear again,” said Leal, who lived in a rented house in the flood-hit city of Estrela.
She spoke to AFP with her seven-year-old son Pietro and her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, sleeping next to her.
Leal, who makes clothes for pets, said she felt better after crying at a talk at the shelter organized by the city’s mental health service.
She hopes to move to another area with her mother and son, hopefully protected from the region’s increasingly intense rains that scientists say are linked to climate change and the El Niño weather pattern.
“This is nature giving back to us what we do with it,” said Leal.
Curled up in colorful blankets next to Leal, Peres agreed: “It is human beings who are destroying our planet. It’s only going to get worse.”
He fears that other cities in Brazil could face similar floods, highlighting his concerns in particular about deforestation in the Amazon.
– ‘Life goes on’ –
Around 13,000 people took refuge in the 149 facilities in Porto Alegre, a city of 1.4 million inhabitants, according to local authorities.
Those most affected may face a persistent fear of the floods returning, but most will overcome that feeling, said psychologist Marta Fadrique, who leads the city’s mental health service.
Problems can include anxiety, insomnia and paranoia, she told AFP outside the center, where clothes dry in the sun and children run around, seemingly oblivious to the tragedy.
Venezuelan cleaner Habraham Elises Gil, 25, left his country six years ago due to economic problems and rebuilt his life in Porto Alegre with his wife and two children.
He lost everything in the floods, but is already thinking about starting over.
“Children give us strength. Life goes on. As long as we are alive, everything has to go on,” said Gil.
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