Climate & environment

 

Half a million on the run – Brazil could have the biggest case of climate migration

Christina Nordh

Published 2024-05-15 18.30

The Guaiba River has overflowed its banks at Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. Now the country may have its biggest cases of climate migration. Photo: Andre Penner/AP

More than half a million are fleeing the devastating floods in southern Brazil.

Now several of them are forced to consider abandoning their homes for good - and instead build a new life - on higher ground.

More than half a million are fleeing the devastating floods in southern Brazil.

Now several of them are forced to consider abandoning their homes for good - and instead build a new life on higher ground.

The rain has been going on for just over two weeks and has caused the Guaiba River, which flows past Porto Alegre, to flood. Now the water rises further and sets a new record, writes Reuters.

Scientists estimate that close to 3,800 square kilometers have been flooded.

Hundreds of thousands of families are fleeing the floods and at least 147 are dead and 127 are missing.

The disaster could trigger one of Brazil's biggest cases of climate migration in modern history.

Cross gusts

In the southern parts of the country, there have been more and more periods of both intense drought and heavy rain in recent years. According to researchers, it is due to climate change.

In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the streets of dozens of cities have turned into rivers. The record-breaking devastation comes after flooding in the second half of 2023 – something that has prompted many of the 538,000 internally displaced people to consider extreme adaptations.

One of them is businessman Cassiano Baldasso, who for the third time in seven months drove wheelbarrows of mud away from his home in the town of Muçum, 15 miles north of Porto Alegre. But the water continues to rise. Now he says he's had enough.

- I have no idea where I'm going, but it will be somewhere far from the river, where our lives will not be in danger, he tells Reuters as he drives away yet another cart of mud from inside his house.

Move half the city

According to Mayor Mateus Trojan, many of Muçum's 5,000 residents will be forced to move. Now they plan to rebuild 40 percent of the city in another, safer place.

One of those who has returned to her home is Maria Ines Silverio, but she keeps her possessions in plastic bags – in case the river rises again. Her mortgage runs for 30 years and she can't afford to move.

- When we bought the house, this was not a flood area. Now it is and the river will rise more and more, she told the news agency.

Ecologist: Wake up!

According to environmental experts, the only option for some cities in the state may be to relocate entire neighborhoods.

- We have to move the urban infrastructure away from high-risk environments and give way to the rivers so that they no longer affect the cities with such magnitude. We cannot go against nature. We have to wake up, because this force says we have to adapt and respect nature, ecologist Marcelo Dutra, a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande, told Reuters.