Amid historic floods, Acre records one death and flooded cities

A man died after drowning during a flood that hit a stream in Rio Branco, amid the historic floods recorded in Acre.

According to the state Fire Department, the man dived into the São Francisco stream, in the Conquista neighborhood, last Sunday (25), in the state capital. He would have gone there voluntarily to swim in the river, which is not suitable for swimming and had overflowed due to the flood.

His body was found three days later, on Wednesday afternoon (28).

According to the general commander of the Fire Department, Lieutenant Colonel Charles da Silva Santos, this is the only death actually related to the floods, as the young man was trapped in the flood.

Three other deaths were recorded amid the floods, but were not directly related to the floods.

On Friday (23), father and daughter fell into a river in Sena Madureira after the canoe they were in with the family sank. Firefighters found the bodies two days later, on Sunday (25). According to the commander, the Amazon rivers are like roads for the population and canoe traffic in these places is normal.

The flood was not responsible for the sinking of the vessel, but it made finding the bodies difficult.

Another case was registered this Wednesday (28), in Brasiléia. A young man died after a tree branch fell on his head while he was making his way through a forest in the region. The death itself is not related to the floods, however, as it is in a place that is difficult to access, and because the city is facing the biggest flood in its history, the body can only be recovered in the early hours of this Thursday (29).

The Acre River reached 17.22 meters this Friday morning (1st). The mark breaks a new record — it is the fifth historic high.

The new mark is just four positions below the highest height ever recorded: 18.4 meters, on March 4, 2015. In 2023, the city recorded 17.77 meters in this same period, the second highest flood in history.

The governor of Acre, Gladson Cameli (Progressives), declared last Sunday (25) a state of calamity in 17 cities in the state affected by flooding of rivers or streams.

In the city of Xapuri, the river reached its second highest level in history. According to the SGB, the level recorded this Thursday was 16.4 meters, second only to the 2015 record, when the river reached 18.24 meters.

In Brasiléia, the city most affected by the floods, the river level dropped by more than 40 centimeters and stood at 15.18 meters this Thursday (29) after reaching a historic high of 15.62.

In a more recent note, the state government stated that, in Brasiléia alone, more than 14 thousand people were affected, 911 were left homeless and 1,011 displaced. In addition, 12 neighborhoods were affected, 16 shelters were set up, more than 580 incidents were attended to and a workforce of more than 500 people, including civilians and military personnel, are working in the region.