May 2024 - Climate Disaster in Brazil hits Rio Grande do Sul severely

In May 2024 extreme rainfall had caused severe flooding in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. Practically every city in the state, either totally or partially, was impacted with over 2.1 million people affected. Entire cities had been destroyed, the capital, Porto Alegre, had been severely hit and, in addition to the obvious consequences of the destruction caused by the water, the cold was approaching, diseases were multiplying and problems were being caused by the difficulty of finding homes and temporary housing for thousands of people, of transporting goods and even to find clean water to drink. This was the fourth environmental disaster this region had faced in a year, following flooding in July, September and November 2023. The extreme rainfall and flooding that hit the southern Brazilian state isolated and forced the evacuation of whole cities. Roads were destroyed, bridges were knocked out and the main airport, in the capital city of Porto Alegre, was indefinitely closed.

A Brazilian horse nicknamed Caramelo by social media users was rescued from a rooftop in southern Brazil. The horse was spottend on national television when a news helicopter filmed him stranded on a rooftop. Since then people were asking on social media for his rescue. There was so much bad news, but the rescue of the horse Caramela did give people some hope.

Brazilian people were showing solidarity with the affected people.Several initiatives across the country were held to collect money and donations to help the population of Rio Grande do Sul. Non−perishable food, hygiene and cleaning products, mineral water, bed linen and towels were some of the items that could be donated. Also artists organized shows to donate money to the impacted region. Even when Madonna was performing her historic Celebration concert in Copacabana beach she did not hesitate to donate R$ 10 million to Rio Grande do Sul.

How to prepare for the future? Brazil needs to prepare itself for similar events happening in the future. The population will need to get training on what to do if such an event would occur again and will need to be informed timely by an alert system. The government of Brazil needs to stop the rollback of environmental legislation and adopt a more proactive approach to address climate change, mainly by considerably reducing deforestation. In addition a plan and investment is needed to adapt vulnerable areas through rebuilding natural areas and implementing soil and water conservation measures. Climate change, unfortunately, is a reality we'll have to live with for many generations. So, taking responsible actions is key here.

Extreme Weather Challenges impact Brazil

The second half of 2023 and beginning of 2024 has been marked by extreme weather conditions in Brazil such extreme drought and floodings. There are three causes for the extreme weather in Brazil. It has to do with climate change, the El Niño weather phenomenon and deforestation in the Amazon.

The impact of the drought in the Amazon is huge. Communities dependent on the Amazon rainforest's waterways are stranded without supply of fuel, food or filtered water. Dozens of river dolphins perished and washed up on shore. And thousands of lifeless fish float on the water's surface. The historically low water levels have affected hundreds of thousands of people and wildlife. Fishermen have been struggling to simply find water and the locals also use the water to drink, to bathe, to cook. Without water, there is no life for them. Area children stopped going to school because getting there by river became impossible. Eight Brazilian states recorded the lowest rainfall in the period from July to September in over 40 years, according to CEMADEN, Brazil's disaster warning center. The drought has affected most of the main rivers in the Amazon, the world's largest basin, which accounts for 20 percent of the planet's fresh water. Dry spells are part of the Amazon's cyclical weather pattern, with lighter rainfall from May to October for most of the rainforest. That already low rainfall is being further reduced this year by two climate phenomena: El Niño — the natural warming of surface waters in the Equatorial Pacific region − and the warming of northern tropical Atlantic Ocean waters, said Ana Paula Cunha, a CEMADEN researcher. Global warming, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, is the backdrop of these intensified phenomena. Rising temperatures increase the likelihood of extreme weather, although attribution of specific events to climate change is complex and requires in−depth study. Still, as global temperatures continue to rise and the effects of climate change become more severe, the drought and its devastating consequences may be a glimpse into a bleak future, experts say. Average global temperatures soared to a record in September 2023. Crushing heat waves have swept across large swathes of Brazil these past months, though it was winter. In its southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, devastating floods killed dozen.

'Out of control' fires endanger wildlife in Brazil's Pantanal wetlands. The Pantanal wetlands in western Brazil − famed as a paradise of biodiversity − had enormous clouds of smoke billowing over them since early November 2023. Known for its lush landscapes and vibrant wildlife, including jaguars, caimans, macaws and monkeys, the Pantanal is home to the world's biggest tropical wetlands and, in normal times, a thriving eco−tourism industry. The Pantanal had been ravaged by fires that are threatening its iconic wildlife as Brazil suffers through a Southern Hemisphere spring of droughts and record heat. There were 2,387 fires in the Pantanal in the first 13 days of November, an increase of more than 1,000 percent from the entire month of November in 2022, according to satellite monitoring by Brazilian space research agency INPE. "The situation is completely out of control. And between the heatwave and the wind, it’s only going to get worse," says biologist Gustavo Figueiroa, 31, head of the environmental group SOS Pantanal.

While the Pantanal and the Amazon were impacted by extreme drought, storms brought flooding to Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina in November 2023, continuing a trend of wet weather in the region. Two months after an extratropical cyclone hit southern Brazil, storms and flooding continued to wreak havoc in the Southern Region mid−November 2023. A string of weather events has soaked southern Brazil since June 2023, when a winter storm brought torrential rain to Rio Grande do Sul. In September, a deadly extratropical cyclone battered 60 cities and affected more than 300,000 people in the state.

In November 2023, unprecedented heat for mid−November, was roasting Brazil and other parts of South America amid a record stretch of hot weather for the planet. The heat in Rio de Janeiro, a city of nearly 7 million people, has proved disruptive and deadly. During sweltering temperatures a woman died at a Taylor Swift concert, while other 1,000 fans fainted because of the heat. Her next concert was postponed due to the extreme heat wave. In addition to threatening people's lives, the heat wave has triggered fires and power outages in São Paulo and Rio, exacerbated drought in the Amazon and threatened crops and biodiversity elsewhere in Brazil.

Climate volatility does not only have an impact on agricultura but was also a wake−up call for the concert and event industry. As for Taylor Swift's concert, organizers had to reschedule one of her shows due to the adverse weather conditions. The storms in Bento Gonçalves, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, causing landslides, falling trees, blocked roads, flooding and deaths, led to calling off events in the city, including Olympikus's Bota para Correr (BPC) race, as reported by "O Globo." October and November were also particularly wet for southern Brazil. According to a bulletin issued by INMET, the average October rainfall was exceeded in 2023 by 12 inches (300 millimeters) in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Heavy rain that month slowed soybean planting in Rio Grande do Sul, according to Reuters. But while southern Brazil has been anomalously wet, northern parts of the country have been abnormally dry. The water level of the Rio Negro in Brazil's northern Amazonas state reached a record low in October 2023. Drought in the north also fueled wildfires in the Amazon rainforest. In October, heavy rain in the South region led the Oktoberfest's organizers, in Blumenau, to postpone the event by a week. On the first weekend of November, the city of São Paulo was hit by a heavy storm that required last−minute repairs at the Formula 1 facilities, in Interlagos. The organizers of the Tomorrowland festival, held in October, in the countryside of São Paulo, had to call off one of the days due to heavy rain.

Mid January 2024 heavy rainfall in the state of Rio de Janeiro killed at least eleven people. The rain flooded the streets, the capital's metro line and people's homes. Trees fell and landslides also occurred in the rain−affected area. Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes declared a state of emergency, while the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva offered federal aid. So it seems that the extreme weather conditions continue to impact Brazil and hopefully the future will not get worse.

(Source: PBS News Hour)