The frequency of catastrophic flooding in southern Brazil is forcing many of the nearly 500,000 displaced flood victims to now seriously consider rebuilding towns and villages at higher altitude.
Two weeks after torrential rains began to hit the region, the level of the Guaiba River that flows through the state of Rio Grande do Sul is rising again, having already surpassed all previous levels.
On the outskirts of Porto Alegre, where four rivers converge to form the Guaiba, an area of 3,800 square kilometers has been flooded.
The death toll from the floods in the state of Rio Grande do Sul has risen to 147, while the fate of 127 people is still unknown, according to the authorities’ tally so far. Hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, in what experts say is one of the biggest waves of internal migration due to climate change in Brazil’s modern history.
For the third time in seven months, businessman Casiano Baldasso wheelbarrowed out the mud that engulfed his house in the town of Mousum, 150 kilometers from Porto Alegre. Seeing the river level rise dangerously again, he is indignant and says he can’t take it anymore. In the floods of last September, he had put all his family members on the roof of his two-storey house, waiting for the fire brigade in the middle of the night to remove them.
“I have no idea where I’m going, but it will be somewhere away from the river, where our lives won’t be in danger,” he tells a Reuters news agency reporter, emptying yet another wheelbarrow full of mud from inside his home.
Maria Venancio lost her home to the devastating floods of September. She rented another house, which also flooded, driving her to despair. He thinks it’s time to leave Musum. “I think the whole city will become a river one day… Those who have money, they all leave,” he says.
The mayor of the city of Musum reveals that almost 40% of the residents intend to settle in a safer location.
There is no choice but to relocate entire communities built in high-risk areas. “We cannot oppose nature,” explains university professor Marcelo Dutra.
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