By Eric Nepomuceno on May 15, 2024
Initial estimates indicate that two billion dollars will be needed to recover what was destroyed in Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul, as the name implies, is the southernmost of the Brazilian states. It has an extensive border with Uruguay and, to a lesser extent, with Argentina and Paraguay. Its population oscillates, according to the institutes, between the fifth and sixth largest in Brazil. And it has the fourth largest economy in the country.
It produces 70% of Brazilian rice, 40% of soybeans, besides providing a substantial percentage of beef, pork and chicken.
In the last two weeks, its capital, Porto Alegre, contrary to its name, has been transformed into a very sad, dramatic panorama, with scenes of environmental destruction never seen before in the country.
Its inhabitants are in shock; astonished, images of the city covered by water and slime.
Some cultural centers of long tradition and intense activity are now covered up and flattened. There are no more squares, parks or gardens.
The desolation is total.
Drinking water has become a treasure, first hotly contested and then practically disappeared.
Truckloads of water arrive from nearby cities, and their contents are divided into small quantities. Loads of water and other utensils arrive from all over Brazil, but until last Saturday their distribution had not begun.
In neighboring cities, also affected by the floods, almost 10,000 animals were rescued, mainly dogs and horses. It is not yet known how many were lost forever.
The most recent data show 136 dead, 125 missing and at least 1,000 directly affected, taken to hospitals and health centers. At least 350,000 residences were destroyed, and the exact number of buildings housing offices and stores affected is not yet known.
Initial estimates indicate that two billion dollars will be needed to recover what was destroyed. And President Lula da Silva has already earmarked US$ 800 million to import rice, if necessary: it is estimated, but not confirmed, that more than half of the harvest of the southern state, the country’s main supplier, has been lost.
Five neighboring cities, very close to Porto Alegre, were also hard hit. In Eldorado do Sul, its 42,000 inhabitants had to abandon first their homes and then the city. There is no water or electricity, and looting is on the increase.
In São Leopoldo, the mayor saw his house covered by water, leaving only the roof visible.
The mayor of Porto Alegre, the right-wing Sebastião Melo, did not say much. He thanked the help received, the donations sent by individuals, and that was all.
The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, on the other hand, who promoted the privatization of state owned companies and was a fervent follower of the unbalanced ultra-right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro, chose to say that it is not the time to look for culprits.
And in that he is absolutely right.
Of the 23 water suction pumps to prevent water accumulation, only six are working.
Last year, the mayor’s office of Porto Alegre did not spend a single peso on environmental protection.
The state government has invested exactly 10,000 dollars in the Civil Defense sector.
It is not the time to look for culprits because it is not necessary to look for them. They are in sight.
And the main one of them is precisely Eduardo Leite, who until now was striving to be promoted by Bolsonaro to challenge Lula da Silva in the 2026 presidential election.
His pretensions were carried away by the water. They were shipwrecked.
Source: Pagina 12, translation Resumen Latinoamericano – English