Excessive rain causes city hall to declare emergency in western RS

The city hall of Uruguaiana (RS), in the west of Rio Grande do Sul, declared a state of emergency after the city was hit by heavy rains since last Friday (15). The municipality is on the border between Brazil and Argentina and approximately 630 kilometers from Porto Alegre.

According to the municipal Civil Defense, the city received around 185 millimeters of rain during a period of 34 hours, which caused flooding, falling trees and electricity cuts. The volume of rain is double what was predicted for the entire month of March.

In a post made on a social network, the mayor of Uruguaiana, Ronnie Mello, stated that the objective of the state of emergency decree is “to seek support from the state so that, as soon as this rain stops, we can recover, especially those points that suffered enormous losses.”

There is no information about victims. The city hall says that “if there is a need to remove [de pessoas]the Brazilian Army will also be integrated into the actions”.

According to the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul, there is a warning for more rain in the west of the state. There is also potential for wind and electrical discharges. The Missions and Northwest regions may be affected.

Inmet Alert

The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) predicts a new wave of storms in the south of the country, especially in Rio Grande do Sul, until next Wednesday (20), with rain showers and wind gusts above 70 kilometers per hour (km/h), in addition to the possibility of hail.

The rains will be caused by new areas of instability moving from the Uruguayan border.

A report released by the agency points out that accumulated rainfall in the coming days could exceed 200 millimeters (mm) in areas of the center and center-west of the State, and above 100 mm in other regions and between Santa Catarina and Paraná.

(Published by Fábio Mathias)