Rains in RS: residents of Canoas remain stranded and ask soldiers for food and water

In the early hours of Sunday (5) to Monday (6), Army soldiers traveled to the city of Canoas, located in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre and one of the most affected by the floods, to help stranded residents.

The group found a family of nine stranded in a house. Residents asked for water, food and animal food for the six dogs that live there.

In another part of the city, with cars submerged and water on the roofs of houses, another resident also asked for food. Residents prefer to stay in their houses.

Last Saturday (4), the city council advised the population of the entire west side of the city to leave their homes and seek shelter in higher and safer places in the municipality. More than 50 thousand people live in risk areas.

Improvised base

With Porto Alegre's international airport closed for an indefinite period, the Canoas Air Base, in the metropolitan region of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, became the main logistical center supporting care and rescue operations for flood victims in the state.

This is where donations and supplies, rescue teams arrive, as well as air traffic control.

Due to the high demand, General Marcelo Guedon, of the Brazilian Army, stated, during a meeting of the federal government's situation room, on Monday (6), that the base yard, which “has limited capacity” for large aircraft , it would not be able to centralize all the logistics involved in the operation, especially in relation to the donations that are beginning to arrive in large quantities.

He suggested the decentralization of deliveries to other regional airports in the state.

“Wouldn’t it be interesting to centralize completely in Canoas [a chegada de donativos] which, as a result, will practically make the operation unfeasible [de resgate]. And we maintain 11 or 12 airports that serve the western part of RS, part of the South, such as Bagé and Pelotas, and the central part, which is our biggest difficulty”, he stated.

On Monday, the KC-30 aircraft, from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), arrived in Canoas with around 18 tons of donated supplies.

According to the military officer, the integrated work of military and civilian personnel in helping victims of the floods in Rio Grande do Sul has, to date, resulted in the rescue of 46 thousand people.

In total, there were 5 aerial rescues. There are more than 10,300 military personnel involved in the operation, around 42 aircraft, more than 1,100 vehicles and around 250 vessels.

Survey of damage

At the opening of the meeting, the Chief Minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, stated that the different departments must work to survey repair and reconstruction demands, which should start with schools, daycare centers, health units and hospitals. This work is being done in parallel with rescue efforts.

“We will have to identify what will need to be done, whether in direct execution or in terms of serving the state and municipalities. These are actions restricted to issues linked to the calamity. From Wednesday (8), we will dedicate ourselves more and more to this service”, said the minister, mentioning the need to prepare projects.

According to Costa, public facilities, such as schools and hospitals, as well as homes, must be rebuilt outside of floodable areas, and construction projects such as bridges must consider width and length outside the reach of floods.

Tragedy

The most recent Civil Defense bulletin points out that the rains and floods have already resulted in the deaths of 85 people in Rio Grande do Sul.

There are 134 missing and 339 injured. More than 1.1 million people were affected, according to authorities, such as power outages and water shortages.

More than 153 thousand people are homeless from their homes and 47.6 thousand are in public shelters. Of the 497 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul, 385 suffered some impact from the storms.