Cyclone causes 15 deaths and is the biggest climate disaster in RS – 06/20/2023 – Daily life

The government of Rio Grande do Sul classified, this Tuesday (20), the passage of the extratropical cyclone last week as the most tragic climate disaster in the history of the state.

In addition to 15 dead and one missing, 15,300 people were homeless or displaced, a number that is still growing with each new Civil Defense assessment.

Rio Grande do Sul has experienced other extreme weather events in the last decade, but none of them caused so many problems in so many regions in the state – in some municipalities, it rained twice as much as expected for the month in 24 hours. In addition, the wind reached 200 km / h on the north coast.

In January 2016, Porto Alegre experienced a bomb cyclone that devastated the city, but there were no deaths. In October 2017, a storm with wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h swept practically the entire state and caused two deaths. In July 2020, Vale do Taquari faced the biggest flood in 64 years, also without fatalities.

This time, more than 2.1 million people from Rio Grande do Sul were affected in some way by the cyclone. In addition to cities to be rebuilt, the state is still dealing with the flooding of the Sinos and Paranhana rivers, which have not yet given way to the storm. On Monday, the Rio dos Sinos was 20 centimeters away from reaching the 2013 mark, when it rose 8.22 meters.

The 15th death due to the cyclone on the 15th and 16th was an unidentified man aged approximately 35 years old who allegedly lived on the street and was found in a stream in Gravataí, in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre. As there were no marks of violence, the Military Brigade attributed the death to the storm.

On Monday afternoon (19), the rescue teams in Caraá found the body of businessman Airton Pereira, 57, owner of a camping in the municipality on the north coast, which is surrounded by rivers and was one of the most affected. With the storm, the establishment was flooded by the Rio dos Sinos.

According to the Civil Defense, there is still one person missing in Caraá. On Monday, teams located a man who was considered missing alive. He had his house destroyed, but managed to take shelter with a relative and was without communication.

The deaths occurred in the municipalities of Caraá (four), Maquiné (three victims), São Leopoldo (two), Gravataí (two), Esteio, Novo Hamburgo, Bom Principle and São Sebastião do Caí.

On Monday (19), the crisis cabinet set up by Governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB) determined that there should be financial support to be announced soon for families in a situation of social vulnerability that have been affected. They should receive an amount still to be defined through the citizen card, used for beneficiaries of social assistance programs.