Forecast of new rains in RS worries us a lot, says Eduardo Leite to CNN

The governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite (PSDB), stated, in an interview with CNN this Tuesday (12), that the forecast of new rains for the state worries the authorities a lot.

“We started this week with a lot of rain in the South region and on the West border, which is the border region with Uruguay and Argentina, which gives us worry a lot because at the end of last week it also rained a lot in many of these cities.”

Rio Grande do Sul’s Civil Defense reported, this Tuesday, that the number of victims due to heavy rains caused by the passage of an extratropical cyclone through the state last week rose to 47. With one death confirmed in Santa Catarina, the total number of deaths in the South region is 48.

“We already have homeless people [nessas cidades]there were hail and strong winds, especially on Monday night (11), and there is a forecast of a lot of rain over the next two days”, added Leite.

Asked about how to prevent new tragedies amid climate change, the governor of Rio Grande do Sul highlighted that a greater effort needs to be made by the responsible bodies.

“It is clear that an even greater effort needs to be made, with systems, with even better governance to guarantee the analysis of this associated data on the volume of rain, volume of rivers, so that we can have even more effective and efficient alerts”, said Leite.

“When we talk about alerts in relation to disasters, we have to have the greatest precision and objectivity possible, because if you keep issuing alerts all the time and they are not confirmed, they end up being discredited, discredited, and people end up not responding. Therefore, alerts”, he added.

See the full interview in the video above.

*Produced by Felipe Andrade, from CNN, in São Paulo