© Thomas Santos / EFE
Hundreds of people had to leave their homes in the last 24 hours, due to the heavy rains that hit the Minas Gerais region, the second state most affected by downpours in Brazil in recent weeks, the Civil Defense reported on Tuesday.
The mining region of the state of Minas Gerais, in southeastern Brazil, suffers from inclement weather as heavy rains have hit this part of the country in the last two weeks, causing the overflow of dams and the flooding of towns and roads. In addition, the rainfall caused the displacement of the Pataxo-Hahahae community, the same affected by the Brumadinho disaster in 2019.
Hundreds of people have had to leave their homes in recent days because of the heavy rains that hit the Minas Gerais region, the second most affected state by downpours in Brazil.
The rains in this region have increased since last weekend and several cities are completely cut off by the floods.
According to meteorological experts, the rains will persist throughout this week. Additionally, Brazil’s Civil Defense said that at least 145 cities across the nation are at risk of flooding.
In addition to Minas Gerais, the state of Bahia, in northeast Brazil, has also suffered from heavy rains that have left at least 24 dead, dozens of cities flooded and forced nearly 100,000 people from their homes since the season began. of showers in October.
The rains cause the displacement of indigenous communities
Native communities have also been victims of bad weather. About 50 indigenous people from the Pataxo-Hahahae tribe had to take refuge in a local school, as their houses located in the town of Nao Xoha were flooded with the muddy waters of the Paraopeba River.
“We lost houses. We lost bathrooms. We lost our medical center. We lost furniture. Our community is all flooded, ”said a member of the indigenous community. “Mineral contaminated water flooded our homes and backyards. There is no way we can live there anymore. We have many children, ”he added.
It is the same community that suffered the collapse of the Brumadinho mine, owned by the multinational Vale SA, in January 2019. The disaster caused the death of 270 people and destroyed the territories of the Pataxo-Hahahae due to the contamination of the river.
Following the collapse of Brumadinho, the community had to move, a tragedy that they will have to go through once more. “It’s so sad to see this happen once more,” lamented Marina, one of the Pataxo-Hahahae members.
The rains have also stopped the work of several companies in the region. This is the case of Brazilian steelmakers Usiminas and Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (CSN), while France’s Vallourec halted operations at the Pau Branco mine following the force of water caused a dam to overflow.
In addition, the detachment of a rocky wall from a canyon in Lake Furnas, most likely due to water currents, left 10 dead and more than 30 injured on Saturday.
With EFE and Archyde.com
