Brazil's deadly floods kill more than 100: Is climate change to blame?

Southern Brazil is being rocked by deadly floods.

Over 100 people have died and over 130 remain missing in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The state capital Porto Alegre is isolated with roads submerged and the airport and bus station closed.

But what happened? And what is causing the deadly floods in Brazil?

Let’s take a closer look:

What happened?

Major floods engulfed entire cities in the northern part of the Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul.

More than 230,000 have been displaced, and much of the region has been isolated by the floodwaters.

As per BBC, Rio Grande do Sul has suffered its worst-ever natural calamity.

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Around 1.4 million people have been impacted by the floods.

At least 95 people have died and more than 130 are still missing.

Storms were expected in the state on Wednesday evening, with hail and wind gusts reaching up to 60 kilometres per hour, according to the national meteorology institute’s afternoon bulletin.

And the institute forecasts a cold front this weekend with additional rains, to be particularly intense in the state’s north and east.

In Porto Alegre, about 300 people were sheltering at the local club Gremio Nautico Uniao, based in the upscale, little-harmed neighbourhood of Moinhos de Vento. Dozens lay on mattresses as volunteers brought boxes filled with feijoada — a typical Brazilian bean-and-pork stew.

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Heitor da Silva was among them, having heeded authorities’ warnings. Still, he’s anxious about his future.

“I only took my documents, three shirts, two pieces of underwear and my flip-flops. All the rest is gone,” said da Silva, 68. “I already had very little, but that stayed there. When I go home, there will be nothing. Then what?”

The mayor of Porto Alegre has begged residents to observe with his water rationing decree.

Four-fifths of the population remains without running water

Suzan, a resident of the capital, told BBC the city had “never experienced anything like it.”

“There are thousands of people who lost their houses. Now we don’t have water anywhere,” she said.

“My mother-in-law is 90 years old and she had to be carried by the rescuers. It’s unbelievable what is going on here,” she added.

Staffers of the state’s civil defence agency told The Associated Press they have been struggling to persuade residents of the city of Eldorado do Sul, one of the hardest hit by the floods, to leave their homes.

It is located beside Porto Alegre, near the center of the state’s coastline. At least four people declined to evacuate.

Authorities, meanwhile, urged people not to return to affected areas due to possible landslide and health hazards.

“Contaminated water can transmit diseases,” civil defense spokeswoman Sabrina Ribas said.

The National Confederation of Municipalities said nearly 100,000 homes had been damaged or destroyed by unprecedented rains and floods in the state, with losses estimated at over $900 million.

Porto Alegre is home to some 1.4 million people and the larger metropolitan area has more than double that number.

The state’s Guaiba River, which runs through Porto Alegre, reached historic levels and officials warned Tuesday that five dams were at risk of rupturing.

A flyover of Eldorado do Sul in a military helicopter showed hundreds of houses submerged, with only their roofs visible. Residents were using small boards, surfboards and personal watercraft to move around. Mayor Ernani de Freitas told local journalists that the city “will be totally evacuated.”

“It will take at least a year to recover,” he said.

Rio Grande do Sul’s Gov. Eduardo Leite, speaking at a news conference late Tuesday, appealed to residents to stay out of harm’s way, as the anticipated downpour may cause more severe flooding across the state.

“It isn’t the time to return home,” he said.

The civil defence agency’s own urgent warning asking displaced residents not to return to flooded areas also stressed the risk of disease transmission.

Army Gen. Marcelo Zucco, one of the coordinators of rescue operations, told the AP his team is working at full speed before heavy rains that are forecast to hit the Porto Alegre area this weekend. Moderate rain was falling Wednesday afternoon in the city.

“We hope the next rains are not like those we saw, but there’s no way to be sure there won’t be trouble ahead of us,” Zucco said.

“At this moment we are focusing on finishing rescue operations and starting logistical support to the population. That’s bringing water, medication, food and transportation for the sick to some hospital,” the general added.

He also said some improvement in conditions for the day helped his men finally access some areas by land.

ver the weekend, rain in northern Rio Grande do Sul could prompt renewed swelling of rivers that are already causing widespread flooding around the Patos lagoon, where the Porto Alegre municipal region is located, said Sias, the meteorologist in Rio Grande do Sul, who works for a forecasting service based there.

“We will remain on this level of alert at least until the end of the month,” she said.

Is climate change to blame?

Experts seem to think so.

The World Meteorological Organisation in a press release said that the shift from La Niña to El Niño in the middle of the year caused a big swing in rainfall patterns.

It cited Brazil as an example.

El Niño is a periodic occurrence that sees surface ocean water heat up.

Suely Araújo, a public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory, told Euro News, “These tragedies will continue to happen, increasingly worse and more frequent.”

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told media, “We need to stop running behind disasters. We need to see in advance what calamities might happen and we need to work.”

Ane Alencar, science director for the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, told the Associated Press last year that the oscillating pattern of extreme drought-extreme rain was likely “the new normal.”

The record-setting Brazil heat that stifled huge cites such as Sao Paulo also kept a rainstorm from moving over the country’s south, turning it deadly, according to Francisco Aquino, a climatologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.

There also was a massive influx of humidity from the Amazon’s so-called flying rivers, or air currents that carry water vapor, Aquino explained.

“These caused clouds to generate extreme rainfall,” he said.

Meanwhile, much recovery work needs to be done.

A report by the National Confederation of Municipalities estimates damages at $930 million in nearly 80 per cent of Rio Grande do Sul’s municipalities.

Governor Leite has said that the enormous impact will require something akin to the Marshall Plan for Europe’s post-WWII recovery. Already the state has asked the federal government to suspend debt payments and create a fund for the southern region.

On Tuesday, Congress passed a decree declaring a state of calamity in Rio Grande do Sul until the end of the year, allowing the federal government to quickly allocate money to mitigate the catastrophe and rebuild regions affected by the floods, bypassing a spending cap. The vote united supporters and opponents of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government.

“There is no limit to the public spending necessary to resolve the problem of the calamity that today is ravaging Rio Grande do Sul state,” Planning and Budget Minister Simone Tebet told Radio Gaucha in an interview.

With inputs from agencies