Three in 10 cities in Rio Grande do Sul hit by rain did not implement contingency plans in 2024, points out IBGE

Three out of every 10 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul hit by the rains of April and May 2024 did not have a contingency plan in operation, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE). Of the 459 affected municipalities, 71 did not have the instrument and 65 had the document, but did not execute it.

Together, the two groups total 136 cities, equivalent to 29.6% of the municipalities affected. Another 323, or 70.4% of the total, declared having implemented the plan during the climate event.

The information is part of the Municipal Basic Information Survey (MUNIC). The focus on the rains in April and May was investigated in a thematic block of MUNIC 2024 and presented in the publication Perfil dos Municípios Brasileiros 2025.

MUNIC is a census survey carried out in all municipalities in the country. In the 2025 edition, data was collected between August 2025 and February 2026.

In total, 388 of the 459 cities affected, or 84.5%, reported having a protection and Civil Defense contingency plan. Among them, 65, corresponding to 16.8% of those who had the instrument, did not put the document into practice during the disaster.

For Vânia Maria Pacheco, a technician from the Basic Municipal and State Information Research Management at IBGE, although the data indicates progress in the formalization of plans, this movement has not translated into response capacity.

"The percentage of 84.5% should be read as declared coverage, and not as effective preparation. The research verifies whether the plan exists. It does not verify whether it works, whether it is up to date or whether it was made for that reality."

The majority did not detail the reason for non-execution

Among the 65 municipalities that had a plan but did not implement it, 10 cited a lack of training in the sector and staff. Another 11 highlighted a lack of material resources, such as equipment and vehicles.

However, 51 municipalities selected the "other reason" option, without details in the questionnaire. According to Vânia, it is not possible to conclude, from the research, that the lack of training or resources was the predominant cause of non-execution.

The survey does not evaluate the quality of the measures adopted by city halls nor does it establish a relationship between the absence of a plan in operation and the extent of the damage.

RS had a higher proportion of cities affected

Between 2021 and 2024, Rio Grande do Sul recorded the highest proportion of municipalities in the country affected by the two types of occurrence analyzed by IBGE. Floods or gradual flooding were recorded in 388 of the 497 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, equivalent to 78.1% of the state.

In the case of flash floods, 412 cities were affected, corresponding to 82.9% of the municipalities. In 315 of them, 2024 was identified as the year with the greatest impact.

Among the municipalities affected by floods, 368 issued emergency or calamity decrees in the year of greatest impact. In addition, 234 registered buildings affected, 228 had people displaced or homeless and 32 reported deaths.

In the specific section of the rains in April and May 2024, 397 municipalities reported damage to highways, railways or bridges. In 338, there were records of dead, missing, homeless or displaced people. In total, 427 of the 459 municipalities affected, or 93%, recorded consequences for the population or damage to structures and equipment.

In Brazil, the proportion of municipalities with a contingency plan for floods or floods increased from 25.7% in 2020 to 38.7% in 2025. The share of cities with at least one risk management instrument also grew, from 55.1% to 66.5% in the same period.

Other instruments related to prevention and response were less present. In 2025, 14.9% of Brazilian municipalities declared to have an early warning system and 8.5% reported having engineering projects related to floods or flash floods.