Residents had to leave their homes and reported difficulties working; The East Zone neighborhood has been experiencing flooding for years, and works to contain the floods have not yet been completed.
By Redação TV Globo and g1 SP — São Paulo
Jardim Pantanal, in the East Zone of São Paulo, has had streets under water for more than 60 hours. Rain hit the region again this Monday (14), and water has remained on the roads since Saturday (12).
Many residents had to leave their homes. Others are stranded and unable to work. The neighborhood, which has faced problems with flooding in the summer for decades, is now dealing with the situation during the winter.
"[W]e are sleeping at the house of a friend of ours who is upstairs. The water invaded below, but we are staying above," said Débora Nicole, a resident of the neighborhood. “We are trying, we are fighting, we are giving each other a hand, but the situation is difficult.”
The Cristina de Castro Paes State School, almost 3 km from the neighborhood, became a shelter for 12 families.
For Érica Libano, resident of Jardim Pantanal, leaving the region also raises concerns about the safety of her homes.
"But it's in another region, another community. How are we going to get out of here? 30 families abandon their homes... we've already lost everything we had, so are we going to leave the houses open for users to come? Because last year that's what happened. They took gas cylinders from us, they took our things", he said.
Around 45 thousand people live in Jardim Pantanal. Many are in areas subject to flooding from the Tietê River, which runs around the entire region.
In a note, the city of São Paulo reported that it had removed 789 families from risk areas since December 2025 through the Recovery Pantanal Plan.
"The region receives R$59.8 million in drainage, paving and containment works on the Tietê River. To date, SMADS has registered 1,021 families in social assistance programs and continues to distribute inputs. SMSUB teams pump water on the streets Serra do Grão Mongol, Tite de Lemos, Tietê, Antônio Dias Moura and Serra de Apodi. After drainage, the roads will be cleaned.
The work on the Jardim Pantanal polder is finished and the pumping system was activated last weekend. It is located on Rua Tite de Lemos in Vila Seabra. The region also has another polder in Jardim Romano and a swimming pool in Vila Itaim. The structures function as a flood-dampening reservoir."
Works to contain flooding
Euclides Mendes, a community leader, has been following attempts to reduce flooding in Jardim Pantanal and neighboring neighborhoods for years.
According to him, structural works have already helped to solve the problem in some regions, such as Jardim Romano and Vila Itaim.
"We have already had structural works that solved the problem. In Jardim Romano, it solved the problem, which was the Jardim Romano polder. We also had a polder in Vila Itaim, and then the government stopped the construction of the polder and then the problems continued in the other neighborhoods", he stated.
The city council began construction of a polder in Vila Seabra, neighboring Jardim Pantanal. The structure functions as a type of wall to contain the passage of water.
🔍A polder is a portion of low, flat land, used as floodable areas so that water does not invade inhabited or agricultural planting areas. Common in the Netherlands, which is a country known for being at sea level, the polder is generally followed by some dikes, which prevent the passage of water in situations of high rainfall.
The dam, which had been promised for 2023, has not yet been completed.
Water is pumped into Tietê
This Monday, a Sabesp pump had been working for more than four hours to remove water from a flooding point near Jardim Helena Park.
An orange hose pulled water from the site, while a blue hose returned water to the Tietê River. As the river level was quite high, the pumped water gave the impression of returning from another point.
Flooding also harms the work of those who depend on the streets to earn income.
"You're stranded here... stranded. My motorcycle actually stays inside the house because there's no way to put it on the street because it will get damaged," said Vinícius Vitor, a motorcycle courier.
"I'm a motorcycle courier, but I'm self-employed, I work for myself, right? And it's like, during this time we're at home, but the bills don't stop arriving," he said.
Residents come together to help
While the water remains in the streets, residents themselves try to help those who need it most. In an improvised kitchen, volunteers prepare meals with what the flood didn't wash away.
"Just last night we made 230 lunch boxes. It wasn't enough because we didn't have the lunch box, but today donations are arriving and we're already preparing everything", said Jaqueline Gonçalves Ferreira Silva, hairdresser.
“Everyone got together and we are here,” he added.
The state government stated that it has already removed more than 370 thousand m³ of sediment from the Tietê River to increase the river's drainage capacity in the Jardim Pantanal region.
Jardim Pantanal has been underwater for more than 60 hours after rain in SP — Photo: Reproduction/TV Globo
