The cities of Nova Iguaçu, Mangaratiba, Paraty and Angra dos Reis declared a state of emergency due to the rains that hit the state of Rio de Janeiro since last Friday (01).
The four municipalities in Rio de Janeiro were heavily affected by the storm, which has already left 16 dead and another 5,000 homeless. The largest number of displaced people is in the municipality of Nova Iguaçu.
The National Center for Monitoring and Alerting Natural Disasters (Cemaden) issued a statement warning of the very high risk of landslides in the cities of Paraty and Angra dos Reis this Monday (04), due to the accumulation of rain observed in recent days.
The federal agency also considers the possibility of landslides in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro to be high, which includes the capital and the Baixada Fluminense.
The National Institute of Meteorology (Inmet) also warned of the possibility of more rain for the state of Rio, this Monday (04), including areas already affected by the storm over the weekend. The forecast is for up to 100 millimeters of rain accumulated in 24 hours.
Classes were suspended in the municipal public schools of Angra dos Reis, Mangaratiba, Nova Iguaçu and Belford Roxo. In Paraty, the city government anticipated the fifteen-day school break in July for the next few weeks.
In Angra dos Reis, one of the municipalities most affected by the rains, the Ministry of Regional Development recognized an emergency situation, with this, the city can now request resources from the federal government.
The highways that give access to the cities of Mangaratiba, Angra dos Reis and Paraty, on the coast of Rio and Ubatuba, on the coast of São Paulo, still have some sections partially blocked. Only on the BR-101, which connects the coast of Rio de Janeiro to the coastal region of São Paulo, 42 occurrences were recorded.
The concessionaire CCR RioSP, which manages the highway, reported that ten teams with the help of machines, such as backhoes and chainsaws, work at various points along the 270 km to clear the lanes.
Due to the fall of barriers and trees, the energy distributor’s teams are facing difficulties to reach some places by land and also by sea. Since the early hours of Saturday (02), residents of Vila Do Abraão, in Ilha Grande, and part of the historic center of Paraty are still without electricity.
ENEL reported that it has tripled the number of personnel in the field to restore the energy supply as quickly as possible and works together with the municipalities.
THE CNN talked with merchant Gilberto Constantino, owner of an ice cream shop in the Portão de Ferro neighborhood, in Paraty. According to Constantino, the neighborhood has been dark since dawn on Saturday (02), and he just didn’t lose R$ 60,000 in products, because a neighbor, who owns a nightclub, lent a generator to maintain the energy in the establishment.
“With the whole situation, there’s no party and my neighbor was able to lend me the generator. My store is 350 meters from the Historic Center. Just around, there are about 60 houses without electricity, including an inn, gas station and other establishments. But the energy concessionaire said that the forecast for reestablishment is only on Monday”, explains Constantino.
The mayor of Angra dos Reis, Fernando Jordão (MDB), even asked for the shutdown of the Angra 1 and 2 plants, but in an interview with CNNthis Sunday, the president of Eletronuclear, Leonam dos Santos Guimarães, said that the removal of residents from neighboring cities, in the event of a nuclear accident, is not compromised.
Furthermore, Eletronuclear stated that there is no technical reason to interrupt the operation of the plants.
This Sunday (03), Governor Cláudio Castro flew over the region and announced the construction of houses on a plot of land in the Monsuaba neighborhood, in Angra dos Reis, one of the points most impacted by the storm. The project will be carried out by the State of Rio in partnership with the federal government and the city hall.
In a statement, the government of Rio stated that 11 aircraft were placed at the disposal of the Fire Department to assist in the search for the missing and also to transport supplies and teams. They are vehicles of the State Government, Military Police, FAB, State Department of Health (SES) and CBMERJ. Traffic management is done directly from the Crisis Office, mounted in the Integrated Command and Control Center (CICC).
Source: CNN Brasil
