75 dead in Brazil floods; evacuations in flood-hit Houston; heat dries up Vietnam while 14 die in Indonesia due to floods and landslides
People being rescued in flood-hit Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil. Photo shared by @EduardoLeite_ / X Extreme weather has struck four areas on opposite sides of the world. Floods, landslides and searing heat have claimed lives, destroyed property and broken records in yet another instance of the ongoing climate emergency.
The Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil, bordering Argentina and Uruguay, has witnessed its worst floods in 80 years, according to the Brazilian Geological Service, reported news agency Associated Press (AP).
The agency reported that a dam at a hydroelectric plant between the cities of Bento Goncalves and Cotipora partially collapsed on May 2 while a bridge was swept away in the town of Feliz. The situation is bad in the state capital Porto Alegre, according to state governor, Eduardo Leite.
A total of 75 people have died in the state so far, the Civil Defense of Rio Grande do Sul stated at 12 pm on May 5. Another 6 deaths are under investigation. At least 103 people are missing and another 155 are injured.
Some 334 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul have been affected by the floods. More than 80,000 people are homeless or displaced. The state has declared a “state of public calamity”, according to the Jornal O Sul media outlet.
Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the state on May 5. “In Porto Alegre with the governor @EduardoLeite_ All powers and levels of government working together in this time of emergency. We will continue to work together for the recovery of regions affected by heavy rains,” Lula posted on his X (formerly Twitter) handle.
According to Brazil’s National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet), the climate phenomenon El Nino caused above average rain and heat in the country during April 2024, the month just gone by.
In the states of Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul, Pará and Maranhao, rainfall exceeded the historical average, it said on its website.
“The month was marked by episodes of rain that caused flooding, landslides and impacts on agribusiness…In addition, the month was also marked by heat, typical of summer and influenced by El Nino,” said Inmet.
It added that the largest accumulations of rain in the last 30 days occurred in the centre-north of the country, due to the combination of heat and high humidity that contributed to the formation of rain clouds, in addition to the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which contributed with increased instability, causing locally heavy rains in the northern part of Brazil.
“Furthermore, the transport of moisture from the ocean to the continent was responsible for rainfall volumes in the eastern part of the Northeast region,” it noted.
Also in the Americas, far away to the north, the United States’s lone-star state is experiencing heavy rainfall and flooding.
Particularly affected is Houston, the US’s fourth-largest city after New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Houston, though not located on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, is connected to it through the Houston Shipping Channel. The city is also surrounded by country that has several canals and bayous, according to AP, which makes it particularly prone to floods. The last time there were floods in Houston was in 2017, when Hurricane Harvey dumped huge amounts on rain on the city as well as the states of Texas and Louisiana.
“While much of the area is experiencing a break in activity, we are watching showers and storms approach from the west which will bring the next round of rain through portions of SE Texas. Continue to stay weather aware and remember to turn around, don’t drown!” the National Westher Service’s Houston centre posted on X on May 5.
Meanwhile, extreme weather events were also on full display in southeast Asia on the other side of the world.
Vietnam baked under a scorching sun while the Indonesian island of Sulawesi witnessed floods and subsequent landslides.
The news agency AFP reported that “Vietnam saw three waves of high temperatures in April, according to data published on May 3 by the National Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting.”
The country broke at least a 100 heat records. Temperatures peaked at 44 degrees Celsius in two towns last week. There is expected to be hotter weather this month according to the country’s weather agency, with temperatures higher than before, according to AFP.
In Indonesia, floods and landslides on the island of Sulawesi have caused the deaths of 14 people, according to the country’s national disaster management agency known by its initials BNPB.
Heavy rains on May 2 triggered the landslide in the southern part of Sulawesi. So far, 13 sub-districts in the Luw Regency have been affected.
“Material losses recorded by the rapid assessment included 211 housing units washed away and heavily damaged, 3,268 houses submerged,” according to a BNPB statement.
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