Rains leave injured, homeless and roofless houses in the South

Dozens of cities in the south of the country organized a task force to assist the population affected by the rains that hit the region between Thursday (5) and Saturday (7). There is a distribution of basic food baskets, mattresses, hygiene kits and tiles.

The three states recorded heavy rains, gales, flash floods and hail, influenced by El Niño.

Rio Grande do Sul

In Bento Gonçalves (RS), three people were injured and around 1,500 houses were roofed. Cacique Doble and Pontão, also in Rio Grande do Sul, had 75 and eight houses flooded respectively. According to the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, there are 42 homeless people and four homeless people in the state.

Santa Catarina

In the state of Santa Catarina, the rains left 278 people homeless and 75 displaced. An emergency situation was declared in the cities of Abdon Batista, Agronômica, Bocaina do Sul, Cerro Negro, Laurentino, Nova Erechim, Papanduva, Ponte Alta do Norte, Rio do Oeste, São José do Cerrito and Vargem.

Until the beginning of this evening, the municipalities of Abdon Batista, Bocaina do Sul and Vargem requested humanitarian assistance from the state government, to send items such as mattresses, basic food baskets, accommodation kits, cleaning and hygiene kits and drinking water. The city of Rio do Sul, in the Alto Vale do Itajaí, concentrates the greatest number of damages, with approximately 580 homes affected and 190 people left homeless. In Vargem, in the mid-west of Santa Catarina, there are 50 homeless people. Correia Pinto and Lontras, also in the Midwest, register ten homeless people each. In the Itajaí Valley, Blumenau recorded 43 incidents, including 25 landslides, flooding, floods and falling trees and walls.

In the city of Lajes (SC), the city council advised residents to use water without wasting it as there is a possibility of rationing, like what happened this weekend in several neighborhoods. The city experienced intense flooding at the beginning of last week and has been receiving support items since last Saturday, including 300 basic food baskets, 300 home cleaning kits, 150 single mattresses, 150 double mattresses, 150 accommodation kits for singles and 150 accommodation kits for couples, in addition to 1,700 tiles for damaged homes.

Paraná

In Paraná, the electricity supply was significantly affected. According to the state government and Copel, the company responsible, it was the worst weather event for the electricity grid this year, reaching 493.1 thousand consumer units in the state at the end of Saturday afternoon. At around 7:30 pm today (9), the company reported that it had restored supply to 99% of affected consumers and approximately 6,300 properties were still without electricity.

The South Region has 447 active emergency requests, most of which are valid until the beginning of 2027.